•sy 


of 


Reg; 


lonal 


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/-^lCe_    'X^-<^^ 


HARRIET  AND 
THE   PIPER 


CHT1Y.   OF  CALIF.   LIBRARY,  I0S  AUGHJS 


By  the  Same  Author 

SISTERS 

JOSSELYN'S  WIFE 

MARTIE,  THE  UNCONQUERED 

UNDERTOW 

THE  HEART  OF  RACHAEL 

THE  STORY  OF  JULIA  PAGE 

MOTHER 

POOR,  DEAR  MARGARET  KIRBY 

SATURDAY'S  CHILD 

THE  TREASURE 

THE  RICH  MRS.  BURGOYNE 


"Royal  Blondin  held  his  hand  out  to  Harriet  across  the 
tea-cups;  both  were  badly  j Tightened" 


HARRIET   AND 
THE  PIPER 


BY 
KATHLEEN   NORRIS 


I  LLU  STRATED 

BY 
ARTHU  R  I.  KELLER 


GARDEN  CITY  NEW  YORK 

DOUBLEDAY,  PAGE  &  COMPANY 

1920 


COPYRIGHT,  1920,  BY 
KATHLEEN   NORRIS 

ALL  RIGHTS  RESERVED,  INCLUDING  THAT  OF  TRANSLATION 
INTO  FOREIGN  LANGUAGES,  INCLUDING  THE  SCANDINAVIAN 

COPYRIGHT    1919,  I92O,  BY  THE  PICTOWAL  REVIEW  COMPANY 


TO 
DANIEL   WEBB    NYE 

DEAR  MAKER  OF  BOOKS 
AND  FRIENDS 


2131826 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS 

Royal    Blondin   held    his   hand   out   to    Harriet 
across  the  tea-cups Frontispiece 


FACIMC  FACE 


They  eloped  in  the  Geisha,  leaving  New  London 
hurriedly 122 

Richard   Carter  unexpectedly  confronted  her  in 
her  sister's  home 210 

Pointing  his  accusing  finger  at  her,  Blondin  de- 
manded that  the  other  man  question  her    .      .     274 


HARRIET   AND 
THE   PIPER 


Harriet  and  the  Piper 


CHAPTER  I 

RICHARD  CARTER  had  called  the  place  "Crownlands," 
not  to  please  himself,  or  even  his  wife.  But  it  was  to 
his  mother's  newly  born  family  pride  that  the  idea  of 
being  the  Carters  of  Crownlands  made  its  appeal.  The 
estate,  when  he  bought  it,  had  belonged  to  a  Carter, 
and  the  tradition  was  that  two  hundred  years  before 
it  had  been  a  grant  of  the  first  George  to  the  first  of 
the  name  in  America.  Madame  Carter,  as  the  old  lady 
liked  to  be  called,  immediately  adopted  the  unknown 
owner  into  a  vague  cousinship,  spoke  of  him  as  "a  kins- 
man of  ours,"  and  proceeded  to  tell  old  friends  that 
Crownlands  had  always  been  "in  the  family." 

It  was  a  home  hardly  deserving  of  the  pretentious 
name,  although  it  was  beautiful  enough,  and  spacious 
enough,  for  notice,  even  among  the  magnificent  neigh- 
bours that  surrounded  it.  It  was  of  creamy  brick,  co- 
lonial in  design,  and  set  in  splendid  lawns  and  great  trees 
on  the  bank  of  the  blue  Hudson.  White  driveways 
circled  it,  great  stables  and  garages  across  a  curve  of 
green  meadows  had  their  own  invisible  domain,  and  on 
the  shining  highway  there  was  a  full  mile  of  high  brick 
fence,  a  marching  line  of  great  maples  and  sycamores, 
and  a  demure  lodge  beside  the  mighty  iron  gates. 

3 


4  HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER 

Much  of  this  was  as  Richard  Carter  had  found  it  five 
years  ago,  but  about  the  house,  inside  and  out,  his  wife 
had  made  changes,  had  lent  the  place  something  of  her 
own  individuality  and  charm.  It  was  Isabelle  Carter 
who  had  visualized  the  window-boxes  and  the  awnings, 
the  walks  where  emerald  grass  spouted  between  the 
bricks,  the  terrace  with  its  fat  balustrade  and  shallow 
marble  steps  descending  to  the  river.  Great  stone  jars, 
spilling  the  brilliant  scarlet  of  geraniums,  flanked  the 
steps,  and  the  shadows  of  the  mighty  trees  fell  clear  and 
sharp  across  the  marble.  And  on  a  soft  June  after- 
noon, sitting  in  the  silence  and  the  fragrance  with  boats 
plying  up  and  down  the  river,  and  birds  twittering  and 
flashing  at  the  brim  of  the  fountain,  one  might  have 
dreamed  one's  self  in  some  forgotten  Italian  garden 
rather  than  a  short  two  hours'  trip  away  from  the  bus- 
iest and  most  congested  city  of  the  world. 

On  one  of  the  wide  benches  that  were  placed  here  and 
there  on  the  descending  terraces,  in  the  late  hours  of  an 
exquisite  summer  afternoon,  a  man  and  a  woman  were 
sitting.  They  had  strolled  slowly  from  the  tennis 
court,  where  half-a-dozen  young  persons  were  violently 
exercising  themselves  in  the  sunshine,  with  the  vague 
intention  of  reaching  the  tea  table,  on  the  upper  level. 
But  here,  in  the  clear  shade,  Isabelle  Carter  had  sud- 
denly seated  herself,  and  Anthony  Pope,  her  cavalier, 
had  thrown  himself  on  the  steps  at  her  feet. 

She  was  a  woman  worthy  of  the  exquisite  setting, 
and  in  her  richly  coloured  gown,  against  the  clear  cream 
of  the  marble,  the  new  green  of  the  trees  and  lawns,  and 
the  brilliant  hues  of  the  flowers,  she  might  well  have 
turned  an  older  head  than  that  of  the  boy  beside  her. 


HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER  5 

Brunette,  with  smooth  cheeks  deeply  touched  with  rose, 
black  eyes,  and  a  warmly  crimson  mouth  that  could  be 
at  once  provocative  and  relentless,  she  glowed  like  a 
flower  herself  in  the  sweet  and  enervating  heat  of  the 
summer's  first  warm  day.  She  wore  a  filmy  gown  of  a 
dull  cream  colour,  with  daring  great  poppies  in  pink 
and  black  and  gold  embroidered  over  it;  her  lacy  black 
hat,  shadowing  her  clear  forehead  and  smoke-black 
hair,  was  covered  with  the  soft  pink  flowers.  She  was 
the  tiniest  of  women,  and  the  little  foot,  that,  in  its 
transparent  silk  stocking  and  buckled  slipper,  was  close 
to  Anthony's  hand,  was  like  a  child's. 

The  man  was  twice  her  size,  and  as  dark  as  she,  earn- 
est, eager,  and  to-day  with  a  troubled  expression  cloud- 
ing his  face.  It  was  to  banish  that  look,  if  she  might, 
that  Isabelle  had  deliberately  stopped  him  here. 

She  had  been  behaving  badly  toward  him,  and  in  her 
rather  irresponsible  and  shallow  way  she  was  sorry  for 
it.  Isabelle  was  a  famous  flirt,  her  husband  knew  it, 
everyone  knew  it.  There  was  always  some  man  paying 
desperate  court  to  her,  and  always  half-a-dozen  other 
men  who  were  eager  to  be  in  his  place.  Now  it  was  a 
painter,  now  a  singer,  now  one  of  the  men  of  her  hus- 
band's business  world.  They  sent  her  orchids  and 
sweets,  and  odd  bits  of  jewellery,  and  curious  fans  and 
laces,  and  pictures  and  brasses,  and  quaint  pieces  of 
china.  They  sent  her  tremendously  significant  letters, 
just  the  eloquent  word  or  two,  the  little  oddity  of  date  or 
signature  or  paper  that  was  to  impress  her  with  an  in- 
dividuality, or  with  the  depth  of  a  passion.  Isabelle 
lived  for  this,  went  from  one  adventure  to  another 
with  the  naive  confidence  of  a  woman  whose  husband 


6  HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER 

smiles  upon  her  playing,  and  whose  position  is  im- 
pregnable. 

But  this  boy,  this  Anthony,  was  different.  In  the 
first  place  he  was  young,  he  was  but  twenty-six.  In  the 
second  place  he  was,  or  had  been,  her  own  son's  closest 
friend.  Ward  Carter  was  twenty-two,  and  his  mother 
nineteen  years  older. 

Yes,  she  was  forty-one,  although  neither  she  nor  her 
mirror  admitted  it  readily.  Anthony,  she  thought, 
must  realize  it.  He  must  realize  that  his  feeling  for 
her  was  unthinkable,  not  to  say  absurd.  It  had  taken 
her  by  surprise,  this  last  conquest.  She  had  known 
the  boy  only  a  few  weeks.  Ward  had  brought  him 
home  for  a  visit,  at  Easter,  but  Isabelle,  besides  admiring 
his  unusual  beauty  and  identifying  him  with  the  Pope 
fortune,  had  paid  him  small  attention.  She  had  been 
absorbed  then  in  the  wretched  conclusion  of  the  Foster 
affair.  Derrick  Foster  had  been  distressing  and  annoy- 
ing her  unmercifully.  After  the  warm  and  delightful 
friendship  of  several  months,  after  luncheons  and  teas, 
opera  and  concerts  in  the  greatest  harmony,  Derrick 
Foster  had  had  the  daring,  the  impudence,  to  imply — 
to  insinuate 

Well,  Isabelle  had  gotten  rid  of  him,  although  she 
could  not  yet  think  of  him  without  scarlet  colour  in  her 
cheeks.  And  it  had  been  on  a  particularly  trying  after- 
noon, when  the  unshed  tears  of  anger  and  hurt  pride 
had  been  making  her  fine  eyes  heavier  and  more  mysteri- 
ous than  usual,  that  this  nice  boy,  this  handsome  friend 
of  Ward,  had  gone  riding  with  her,  and  had  shown  such 
charming  sympathy  for  her  dark  mood.  They  had  had 
tea  at  the  Country  Club,  and  Tony,  as  she  had  begun 


HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER  7 

at  once  to  call  him,  had  been  wonderfully  amusing  and 
soothing.  Isabelle,  when  they  came  back  to  the  house, 
had  turned  impulsively  in  the  hall,  had  laid  her  small 
hand,  in  its  dashing  gauntlet,  upon  his  big  shoulder. 

"You've  carried  me  over  an  ugly  bog,  Little  Boy!" 
she  had  said.  "I  like  you — such  a  lot!" 

That  was  six  weeks  ago,  but  in  those  short  six  weeks 
the  little  boy  that  she  had  patronized  had  entirely  up- 
set her  preconceived  ideas  of  him.  He  was  young, 
and  he  was  absurd,  but  he  did  not  know  it,  and  Isabelle 
began  to  feel  the  difficulty  of  keeping  the  whole  world 
from  discovering  it  before  he  did.  He  made  no  secret 
of  his  passion.  He  came  straight  to  her  in  any  com- 
pany; he  never  looked  at  anybody  else.  The  young 
girls  to  whom  she  introduced  him  bored  him,  he  was 
rude  to  them.  To  her  own  daughter  Nina,  seventeen 
years  old,  his  attitude  was  almost  paternal;  he  ignored 
Ward  as  if  their  friendship  had  never  been.  Toward 
Richard  Carter,  who  was  pleasantly  hospitable  toward 
the  lad,  he  showed  an  icy  and  trembling  politeness. 

Isabelle  saw  now  that  she  had  made  a  mistake.  She 
should  have  killed  this  affair  at  the  very  beginning. 
Tony  was  not  like  the  older  men,  willing  to  play  the 
game  with  just  a  little  scorching  of  fingers.  Appear- 
ances meant  nothing  to  Tony,  and  she  had  let  the  play 
go  too  far  now  to  convince  him  that  she  did  not  return 
something  of  his  feeling. 

Indeed,  to  her  own  amazement,  his  fire  kindled  fire 
in  return.  When  he  was  not  at  Crownlands  she  could 
laugh  at  him,  even  though  her  thoughts  were  full  of 
him.  But  when  he  was  there,  life  to  her  was  more 
radiant,  more  full,  more  glowing  with  colour  and  fra- 


8  HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER 

grance.  The  books  he  touched,  the  chair  he  had  at 
breakfast,  his  young,  lithe  body  in  its  golfing  knicker- 
bockers, or  his  sleek  black  head  above  the  dull  black  of 
evening  wear,  haunted  her  oddly.  He  troubled  her, 
but  she  had  neither  quite  the  power  nor  quite  the  de- 
sire to  banish  him. 

She  looked  down  at  him  now,  content  to  be  alone  with 
her  and  at  her  feet,  and  a  hundred  mixed  emotions 
stirred  her.  His  feeling  for  her  was  not  only  pitiable 
and  absurd  in  him,  but  it  was  rapidly  reaching  the  point 
when  it  would  make  her  absurd  and  pitiable,  too.  Nina, 
instinctively  scenting  the  affair,  had  already  expressed 
herself  as  "hating  that  idiot";  Ward  had  scowled,  of 
late,  at  the  mere  mention  of  Tony's  name.  Even  her 
husband,  the  patient  Richard,  seeing  the  youth  en- 
sconce himself  firmly  beside  her  in  the  limousine,  had 
had  aside  his  mild  comment:  "Is  this  young  man  a 
fixture  in  our  family,  dear?" 

"You  should  be  playing  tennis,  Tony,"  said  Isabelle. 

"Tennis!"  He  laughed;  there  was  a  slight  move- 
ment of  his  broad  shoulders. 

"I  think  Miss  Betty  Allen  was  a  little  disappointed," 
the  woman  pursued.  A  look  of  distaste  crossed  An- 
thony's face. 

"Please— Chine!"  he  begged. 

There  was  a  silence  brimming  with  sweetness  and 
colour.  Tony  laid  his  hand  against  her  knee,  groped 
until  her  own  warm,  smooth  fingers  were  in  his  own. 

"Does  Mr.  Carter  play  golf  to-morrow?"  he  asked, 
presently. 

"I  suppose  so!" 

"And  you — what  do  you  do?" 


HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER  9 

"Oh,  I  have  a  full  day!  People  to  lunch,  friends  of 
Madame  Carter 

The  boy  laughed  triumphantly. 

"I  knew  you'd  say  that!"  he  said.  "Now,  I'll  tell 
you  about  to-morrow.  You  and  I  are  going  to  slip 
away,  at  about  one  o'clock,  and  go  off  in  the  gray  car. 
We'll  go  up  to — well,  somewhere,  and  we'll  have  our 
lunch  under  the  trees.  I'll  have  Hansen  pack  us  some- 
thing at  the  club.  We'll  be  back  at  about  four,  for 
the  tea  callers,  and  they  may  have  you  until  I  come 
back  for  dinner.  After  dinner  we'll  walk  on  the  ter- 
race— as  we  did  two  wonderful,  wonderful  nights  ago, 

and  perhaps "  His  voice  had  fallen  to  a  rich  and 

tender  note,  his  eyes  were  rapt.  "Perhaps,"  he  said, 
"just  before  we  go  in,  at  the  end  of  the  terrace,  you'll 
look  up  at  the  stars  again 

"Tony!"  Isabelle  interrupted,  her  face  brilliant  with 
colour.  "  My  dear  boy — my  dear  boy,  listen  to  me— 

"Well?"  he  asked,  looking  up,  as  she  paused. 

"My  dear,"  she  said,  with  difficulty,  "think  where 
this  is  going  to  end." 

He  jerked  his  head  impatiently. 

"Oh,  if  you  are  going  to  begin  that  again!" 

"My  dear,  I  have  to  begin  that  again!  In  all  rea- 
son— in  all  reason 

"Isabelle,  what  in  God's  name  has  reason  to  do  with 
it!"  He  knelt  before  her,  and  caught  her  hands,  and 
Isabelle  had  a  terrified  fear  that  Ward,  or  Nina,  or  any 
one  else,  might  start  up  or  down  the  terrace  steps  and 
see  him.  "The  instant  you  realize  what  you  and  I  are 
to  each  other,  my  darling,"  he  said,  "you  begin  to  talk 
of  reason.  Love  isn't  reason,  Cherie.  It's  the  divinest 


10  HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER 

unreason  in  the  world!  Cherie,  there's  never  been  an- 
other woman  for  me;  there  never  will  be!  It's  nothing 
to  me  that  there  are  obstacles — I  love  them — I  glory 
in  them!  I  can't  live  without  you;  I  don't  want  to! 
You're  frightened  now,  you  don't  know  how  we  can 
manage  it.  But  I'll  find  the  way.  The  only  thing  that 
matters  is  that  you  must  belong  to  me — you  shall  be- 
long to  me — as  I  to  you  in  every  fibre  of  my  being 

"Tony — for  Heaven's  sake ! "  Isabelle  was  in  an 

agony.  Somebody  was  approaching.  He  had  gotten 
to  his  feet,  and  was  gloomily  staring  at  the  river,  when 
Nina  Carter,  followed  by  a  great  white  Russian  hound, 
came  flying  down  the  steps. 

"Mother —  Nina,  a  tall,  overgrown  girl,  with 

spectacles  on  her  straight  nose,  and  straight,  light- 
brown  hair  in  thick  braids,  stopped  short  and  gave 
her  mother's  companion  a  look  of  withering  distaste. 
"Mother,"  she  began  again,  "aren't  you  coming  up  for 
tea  ?  Granny's  there,  and  the  others,  from  tennis,  and 
Mrs.  Bellamy  telephoned  that  she's  bringing  some 
people  over,  and  there's  nobody  there  but  Granny  and 
me!" 

Nina  was  like  her  New  England  father,  conscientious, 
serious,  gravely  condemnatory  of  the  lax  and  the  uncon- 
ventional. 

"Ask  Betty  Allen  to  pour,"  said  Mrs.  Carter,  regaining 
her  composure  rapidly,  and  assuming  the  air  of  hostess 
at  once. 

"Betty  went  home  for  a  tub,"  Nina  explained. 
"She's  coming  back.  But,  Mother,"  she  added,  with  a 
faintly  reproachful  and  whining  intonation,  "really,  you 
ought  to  be  there 


HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER  11 

Mrs.  Carter  knew  this  as  well  as  Nina.  But  she 
found  the  child  extremely  trying  in  this  puritanical 
mood.  Granting  that  this  affair  with  Tony  did  her, 
Isabelle,  small  credit,  at  least  it  was  not  for  Nina  to  sit 
in  judgment.  Rebellious,  Isabelle  fondled  the  loving 
nose  of  the  hound  with  a  small,  brown,  jewelled  hand, 
and  glanced  dubiously  at  Tony's  uncompromising  back. 

"Trot  back,  Nina  love,"  said  she  to  her  daughter, 
cheerfully,  "and  ask  Miss  Harriet  to  come  out  and  pour. 
I'll  be  there  directly.  We'll  come  right  up.  Run 
along!" 

To  Nina,  in  this  ignominious  dismissal,  there  was 
sweet.  She  adored  "Miss  Harriet,"  the  Miss  Field 
who  had  been  her  governess  and  her  mother's  secretary 
for  the  three  happiest  years  of  Nina's  somewhat  sealed 
young  life.  It  would  be  "fun"  to  have  Miss  Field 
pour.  Nina  leaped  obediently  up  the  steps,  with  a 
flopping  of  thick  braids  and  the  scrape  of  sturdy  shoes, 
and  the  sweet  summer  world  was  in  silence  again. 

Isabelle  sat  on,  stroking  the  hound,  her  soul  filled 
with  perplexity.  The  shadows  were  lengthening,  the 
shafts  of  sunlight  more  bold  and  clear.  The  hound, 
surprised  at  the  silence,  whined  faintly. 

"I  wish  it  might  have  been  Nina!"  Isabelle  said. 
Anthony's  eloquent  back  gave  her  sudden  understand- 
ing of  his  fury.  She  got  up,  and  went  noiselessly 
toward  him,  and  she  felt  a  shudder  shake  him  as  she 
slipped  her  hand  into  his  arm.  "Ah,  please,  Tony," 
she  pleaded,  "what  can  I  do?" 

"Nothing!"  he  answered,  suddenly  pliant.  "Noth- 
ing, of  course."  And  he  turned  to  her  a  boyish  face 
stern  with  pain.  "Of  course  you  can  do  nothing, 


12  HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER 

Cherie.  I'm  not  such  a — such  a  fool—  "  his  voice  broke 
angrily — "that  I  can't  see  that!  Come  on,  we'll  go  up 
and  have  tea — with  the  Bellamys.  And  I — I'll  be 
going  to-night.  I'll  say  good-bye  to  you  now — and 
perhaps  you'll  be  good  enough  to  make  my  good-byes 
to  the  others — 

The  youthfulness  of  it  did  not  rob  it  of  real  dignity. 
Isabelle,  wretchedly  mounting  the  steps  beside  him, 
felt  her  heart  contract  with  real  pain.  He  would  go 
away — it  would  all  be  over  and  forgotten  in  a  few  weeks 
— and  yet,  how  she  longed  to  comfort  him,  to  make  him 
happy  again! 

She  looked  obliquely  at  his  set  face,  and  what  she  saw 
there  made  her  feel  ashamed. 

On  the  bright  level  of  the  upper  terrace  tea  was 
merrily  in  progress.  In  the  streaming  afternoon  light 
the  scene  was  strikingly  cheerful  and  pretty:  the  wide 
wicker  chairs  with  their  gay  cretonne  cushions,  the  over- 
shadowing green  trees  in  heavy  leaf,  the  women's  many- 
coloured  gowns  and  the  men's  cool  whites  and  grays. 
On  the  broad  white  balustrade  Isabelle's  great  peacock 
was  standing,  with  his  tail  fanned  to  its  amazing 
breadth;  two  maids,  in  their  crisp  black  and  white, 
were  coming  and  going  with  silver  and  china  on  their 
trays. 

Miss  Field  had  duly  come  down  to  preside,  and  all 
was  well.  Isabelle,  as  she  dropped  into  a  chair,  gave 
a  sigh  of  relief;  everyone  was  amused  and  absorbed 
and  happy.  Everyone,  that  is,  except  the  magnificent 
and  sharp-eyed  old  lady  who  sat,  regally  throned,  near 
her,  and  favoured  her  immediately  with  a  dissatisfied 


HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER  13 

look.  Old  Madame  Carter  had  her  own  good  reasons 
for  being  angry,  and  she  never  spared  any  one  available 
from  a  participation  in  her  mood. 

She  was  remarkably  handsome,  even  at  seventy-five; 
with  a  crown  of  puffed  white  hair,  gold-rimmed  eye- 
glasses, and  an  erect  and  finely  preserved  figure.  Her 
silk  gown  flowed  over  her  knees,  and  formed  a  rich  fold 
about  her  shining  slippers;  a  wide  lace  scarf  was  about 
her  shoulders,  and  she  wore  an  old-fashioned  watch- 
chain  of  heavy  braided  gold,  and  a  great  many  hand- 
some pins  and  rings.  Her  voice  was  theatrically  deep 
and  clear,  and  her  manner  vigorous  and  impressive. 

"Well,  my  dear,  your  friends  were  naturally  wonder- 
ing what  important  matter  kept  their  hostess  away  from 
her  guests,"  she  began.  Isabelle  had  not  been  her 
daughter-in-law  for  more  than  twenty  years  for  nothing. 
She  shrugged  and  smiled  carelessly,  with  an  indifferent 
glance  at  the  group.  Ward's  friends,  the  tennis-players, 
and  old  Doctor  and  Mrs.  Potter  and  their  niece,  from 
next  door.  Nobody  here  of  any  especial  importance! 

"Harriet  is  managing  very  nicely,"  Isabelle  said,  con- 
tentedly, as  Tony,  with  a  sombre  face  and  averted  eyes, 
brought  her  her  tea. 

"So  Ward  seems  to  think,"  observed  Ward's  grand- 
mother with  acidity.  Isabelle  laughed  indifferently. 
Her  son,  slender  and  tall,  and  with  something  of  her  own 
eagerness  and  fire  in  his  sunburned  young  face,  was  be- 
side Miss  Field,  who  talked  to  him  in  a  quiet  aside  while 
she  busied  herself  with  cups  and  spoons. 

"Perfectly  safe  there!"  Isabelle  said. 

"I  should  hope  so!"  old  Madame  Carter  remarked, 
pointedly.  "At  least  if  there's  any  of  our  blood  in  his 


14  HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER 

veins — but  of  course  he's  all  Slocum.  They  used  to 
say  of  my  Aunt  Georgina  that  she  never  married  be- 
cause the  only  man  she  ever  loved  was  beneath  her  so- 
cially- 

Isabelle  knew  all  about  Aunt  Georgina,  and  she 
looked  wearily  away.  Tony,  sighing  elaborately,  drew 
upon  himself  the  old  lady's  fire. 

"Why  don't  you  go  over  and  join  the  young  people, 
Mr.  Pope?"  she  asked,  pleasantly.  "Isabelle  and  I  can 
manage  very  well  without  a  cavalier.  You're  tired, 
Isabelle — I  can  always  tell  it.  ^  Be  glad  that  you're  too 
young  to  know  what  that  means,  Mr.  Pope.  Go  over 
there — there's  a  chair  next  to  Nina.  What  shall  we 
suspect  him  of,  Isabelle — a  quarrel  with  pretty  Miss 
Allen? — if  he  avoids  the  young  people,  and  looks  like 
such  a  thunder-cloud." 

Isabelle  sighed  patiently. 

"The  Bellamys  are  coming  in  for  awhile,"  she  ob- 
served, with  deliberate  irrelevance,  "and  I  hope  they'll 
bring  their  Swami — or  whatever  he  is,  with  them.  He 
must  be  a  queer  creature." 

"He's  not  a  Swami,  he's  an  artist,"  Tony  said,  drawn 
into  a  casual  conversation  much  against  his  will. 
"Blondin — I've  met  him.  He  has  a  studio  up  on 
Fifty-ninth  Street — goes  in  for  poetry  and  musical  in- 
terpretations and  I  don't  know  what  else.  Now  I  be- 
lieve it's  Indian  philosophies — I  can't  bear  him,  he 
makes  me  sick!" 

He  relapsed  into  gloomy  silence,  and  Isabelle  put  into 
her  laugh  something  affectionate  and  soothing. 

"He  evidently  lives  by  his  wits,"  she  suggested, 
"which  is  something  you  have  never  had  to  do!" 


HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER  15 

Tony  scowled  again.  It  was  part  of  his  charm  for 
her  that  he  was  the  spoiled  darling  of  fortune.  Hand- 
some and  young,  and  with  no  family  ties  to  restrain 
him,  he  had  recently  come  into  his  own  enormous  for- 
tune. Isabelle  knew  that  his  New  York  apartment 
was  fit  for  a  prince,  that  his  man  servant  was  perfection, 
that  he  had  his  own  pet  affectations  in  the  matter  of 
monogrammed  linen,  Italian  stationery,  and  specially 
designed  speed  cars.  His  manner  with  servants,  his 
ready  check  book,  his  easy  French,  and  his  unruffled 
self-confidence  in  any  imaginable  contingency,  coupled 
with  his  youth,  had  strong  attraction  for  a  woman  con- 
scious of  the  financial  restrictions  of  her  own  early 
years  and  the  limitations  of  her  public  school  education. 

"Why  don't  you  go  to  the  club  and  dress  now,  and 
come  back  and  dine  with  us  ?"  she  said,  in  an  undertone. 

"Do  you  want  me?"  he  asked,  sulkily. 

"I'm  asking  you!" 

For  answer  he  stood  up,  and  smiled  wistfully  down 
upon  her,  with  a  hesitancy  she  knew  well  how  to  inter- 
pret in  his  eyes.  She  should  not  have  asked  him  to 
dinner;  he  should  not  accept  her  invitation.  Yet  he 
had  been  longing  so  thirstily  for  just  that  permission, 
and  she  had  been  yearning  so  to  give  it!  Happiness 
came  back  into  both  their  hearts  as  he  turned  to  go, 
and  she  gave  him  just  a  quick  touch  of  a  warm  little 
hand  in  farewell.  At  such  a  moment,  when  her  mood 
of  heroism  gave  way  to  melting,  Isabelle  had  a  desper- 
ate sort  of  hope  that  one  more  concession  would  not 
alter  the  inevitable  parting,  whenever  it  came.  This 
time — and  this  time — and  this  time — must  positively 
be  the  last. 


16  HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER 

Other  guests  had  come  in,  and  Miss  Field  was  ex- 
tremely busy,  and  Ward,  helping  her  officially,  was  busy, 
too.  She  had  indeed  offered  her  place  to  Isabelle,  but 
Isabelle,  spurred  by  her  mother-in-law's  criticism,  would 
not  have  disturbed  her  secretary  for  any  consideration 
now. 

"No,  no — stay  where  you  are,  my  dear!"  she  had 
said.  And  Miss  Field  remained. 

"Fun  to  have  you  down  here!"  said  Ward,  in  her  ear. 

Harriet  Field  had  an  aside  with  a  maid  regarding 
hot  water.  Then  she  gave  Ward  an  indulgent,  an  older- 
sisterly  glance.  He  was  in  years  almost  twenty-two, 
but  at  twenty-seven  the  young  woman  felt  him  ages 
her  junior.  Ward  was  broad  and  fair,  his  light  brown 
hair  was  somewhat  tumbled  about  from  the  tennis; 
his  fine,  strong  young  throat  showed  brown  where  the 
loose  collar  turned  back.  Even  in  his  flat  tennis  shoes 
he  stood  a  clear  two  inches  above  Miss  Field,  although 
she  was  not  a  small  woman  by  any  means.  He  was  a 
joyous,  irresponsible  boy,  and  he  and  his  mother's 
secretary  had  always  been  good  friends  since  the  day, 
four  years  ago  now,  when  the  silent,  somewhat  grave 
Harriet  Field  had  first  made  her  appearance  in  the 
family.  Ward  was  so  much  a  child  in  those  days  that 
Harriet  used  to  go  with  him  to  pick  out  suits  and  shirts, 
and  to  buy  matinee  seats  for  him  and  his  school  friends, 
and  they  laughed  now  to  remember  his  favourite  and 
invariable  luncheon  order  of  potato  salad  and  French 
pastries.  Nina  had  had  a  nurse  then,  and  Harriet 
practised  French  with  both  the  boy  and  girl,  but  now 
the  nurse  was  gone,  and  Ward  could  buy  his  own 
clothes,  and  Nina  went  to  a  finishing  school.  So  Miss 


HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER  IT 

Field  had  made  herself  useful  in  new  ways;  she  was 
quite  indispensable  now.  The  young  people  loved  her; 
Richard  Carter  occasionally  said  to  his  wife,  "Very 
clever — very  pretty  girl!"  which  was  perhaps  as  close 
as  he  ever  got  to  any  domestic  matter,  and  Isabella 
confided  to  her  almost  all  her  duties  and  cares.  She 
patronized  Harriet  prettily,  and  told  her  that  she  was 
too  pretty  to  be  getting  up  to  the  thirties  without  a 
fiance,  but  Harriet  only  smiled  her  inscrutable  smile,  and 
made  no  confidences  on  the  subject  of  admirers.  Nina, 
insatiably  curious,  had  gathered  no  more  than  that  Miss 
Harriet's  father  had  been  a  college  professor  of  languages, 
and  that  her  only  relative  was  a  married  sister,  much 
older,  who  had  four  children,  and  lived  in  New  Jersey. 

She  was  a  master  of  the  art  of  keeping  silent,  this 
young  woman,  and  but  for  her  beauty  she  might  have 
been  as  inconspicuous  as  she  sincerely  tried  to  be.  But 
her  simple  gowns  and  her  plainly  massed  hair  only 
served  to  emphasize  the  extraordinary  distinction  of  her 
appearance,  and  her  utmost  effort  to  obliterate  herself 
could  not  quite  keep  her  from  notice.  Men  raised  their 
eyebrows,  with  a  significant  puckering  of  the  lips,  when 
she  slipped  quietly  through  the  halls;  and  women  nar- 
rowed their  eyes,  and  looked  questioningly  at  one  an- 
other. Isabelle,  who  was  far  too  securely  throned  to  be 
jealous  of  any  one,  sometimes  told  her  that  she  would 
make  a  fortune  on  the  stage,  but  old  Mrs.  Carter,  who 
for  reasons  perfectly  comprehensible  in  an  old  lady  who 
had  once  been  handsome  herself,  detested  Harriet,  and 
said  to  her  daughter-in-law  that  in  her  opinion  there  was 
something  queer  about  the  girl. 

There  was  nothing  queer  in  her  aspect  to-day,  at  all 


18  HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER 

events,  as  she  demurely  performed  her  duties  at  the 
tea  table.  To  the  occasional  pleasant  and  surprised 
"Hello,  Miss  Field!"  she  returned  a  composed  and  un- 
smiling nod  of  greeting;  for  the  rest,  she  poured  and 
sweetened,  and  conferred  with  the  maids,  in  a  manner 
entirely  businesslike. 

She  was  of  that  always-arresting  type  that  combines 
a  warm  dusky  skin  with  blue  eyes  and  fair  hair.  The 
eyes,  in  her  case,  were  a  soft  smoky  blue,  set  in 
thick  and  inky  black  lashes,  and  the  hair  was  brassy 
gold,  banded  carelessly  but  trimly  about  her  rather 
broad  forehead.  Her  mouth  was  wide,  deep  crimson, 
thin-lipped;  it  had  humorous  possibilities  all  its  own, 
and  Nina  and  Ward  thought  her  never  so  fascinating 
as  when  she  developed  them;  it  was  a  mouth  of  secrets 
and  of  mystery,  of  character,  a  mouth  that  had  known 
the  trembling  of  pain  and  grief,  perhaps,  but  a  firm 
mouth  now,  and  a  beautiful  one. 

And  in  the  broad  forehead  and  the  cheek-bones,  just  a 
shade  high,  and  the  clearly  pencilled  brows  and  the 
clean  modelling  of  the  straight  young  chin,  there  was  a 
certain  openness  and  firmness,  a  fortuitous  blending 
of  form  and  proportion  that  would  have  made  the  head 
a  perfect  model  for  a  coin,  a  wonderful  study  in  pastels. 
Looking  at  her,  an  artist  would  have  fancied  her  a  bold 
and  charming  and  boyish-looking  little  girl,  fifteen  years 
ago,  with  that  Greek  chin  and  that  tawny  mane;  would 
have  seen  her  sexless  and  splendid  in  her  early  teens, 
with  a  flat  breast  and  an  untamed  eye.  And  a  romancer 
might  have  wondered  what  paths  had  led  her,  in  the 
superb  realization  of  her  beautiful  womanhood,  at 
twenty-seven,  to  this  subordinate  position  in  the  home 


HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER  19 

of  a  self-made  rich  man,  and  this  conventional  tea  table 
on  a  terrace  over  the  Hudson.  The  smoky  blue  eyes 
to-day  were  full  of  an  idle  content;  the  rounded  breast 
rose  and  fell  quietly  under  the  plain  checked  gown  with 
its  transparent  frills  at  wrists  and  throat.  Harriet 
may  have  had  her  moments  of  rebellion,  but  this  was 
not  one  of  them.  She  had  been  here  for  four  years;  she 
had  held  more  difficult  and  less  well-paid  positions  for 
the  four  years  before  that;  she  had  known  fatigue  and 
ingratitude,  and  snubs  and  injustices,  as  every  business 
woman,  especially  in  secretarial  work,  must  know  them, 
and  she  had  no  quarrel  with  this  particular  occasion. 
Indeed,  Nina's  open  adoration,  Ward's  pointed  atten- 
tions, and  Isabelle's  graciousness  were  making  her  feel 
particularly  cheerful,  and  more  than  offset  the  old 
lady's  disapproval,  which  was  always  more  stimulating 
than  otherwise  to  Harriet. 

"Nearly  half-past  five,  Nina,"  she  said,  presently. 
"Go  and  change  and  brush,  that's  a  darling!  You  look 
rather  tumbled." 

Nina,  reaching  for  a  marron,  obediently  wandered 
away,  and  immediately  the  empty  chair  beside  Harriet 
was  taken  by  a  newcomer,  Richard  Carter  himself,  the 
owner  of  all  this  smiling  estate,  who  had  come  up  from 
the  little  launch  at  the  landing,  had  changed  hastily 
into  white  flannels,  Harriet  saw  at  a  glance,  and  had  un- 
expectedly joined  them  for  tea.  His  usual  programme 
was  to  go  off  immediately  for  golf,  and  to  make  his  first 
appearance  in  the  family  at  dinner-time,  but  perhaps 
it  had  been  unusually  tiring  in  the  city  to-day — he  looked 
pale  and  tired,  and  as  if  some  of  the  grime  of  the  sun- 
baked streets  clung  about  him  still. 


20  HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER 

"Tea,  Mr.  Carter?"  Harriet  ventured. 

He  was  watching  his  wife  with  a  sort  of  idle  interest. 
She  had  to  repeat  her  invitation. 

"  If  you  please,  Miss  Field !  Tea  sounded  right,  some- 
how, to  me  to-day.  It's  been  a  terrible  day!" 

"I  can  imagine  it!"  Harriet's  voice  was  pleasantly 
commonplace.  But  the  moment  had  its  thrill  for  her. 
This  lean,  tall,  tired  man,  with  his  abstract  manner,  his 
perfunctory  courtesies,  his  nervous,  clever  hands, 
loomed  in  oddly  heroic  proportions  in  Harriet's  life. 
His  face  was  keen  and  somewhat  lined  under  a  smooth 
crest  of  slightly  graying  hair;  he  smiled  very  rarely, 
but  there  was  a  certain  kindliness  in  his  gray  eyes,  when 
Nina  or  Ward  or  his  wife  turned  to  him,  that  Harriet 
liked.  He  came  and  went  quietly,  absorbed  in  his  busi- 
ness, getting  in  and  out  of  his  cars  with  a  murmur  to 
his  chauffeur,  disappearing  with  his  golf  sticks,  presid- 
ing almost  silently  over  his  own  animated  dinner  table. 
He  was  always  well  groomed,  well  dressed  without  being 
in  the  least  conspicuous;  always  more  or  less  tired  when 
she  saw  him.  In  the  evenings  he  smoked,  listened  to 
music,  went  early  to  bed.  But  he  never  failed  to  visit 
his  mother,  or  pay  her  some  little  definite  attention 
when  she  was  with  them;  and  when  Madame  Carter  was 
in  her  New  York  apartment  he  called  on  her  nearly 
every  day. 

For  Harriet  he  had  hardly  a  dozen  words  a  year.  He 
merely  smiled  kindly  when  she  thanked  him  for  the 
Christmas  gift  that  bore  his  untouched  card;  if  she 
went  to  her  sister  for  a  day  or  two,  he  gave  her  only  a 
nod  of  greeting  when  she  came  back.  Sometimes  he 
thanked  her  for  a  small  favour,  briefly  and  indifferently; 


HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER  21 

now  and  then  asked  with  sharp  interest  about  Nina's 
teeth  or  his  mother's  headache. 

But  Harriet  had  known  other  types  of  men,  and  for 
his  very  silences,  for  his  indifference,  for  his  loyalty  to 
his  own  women,  she  had  begun  to  admire  him  long  ago. 
She  had  not  been  born  in  this  atmosphere  of  pleasure 
and  ease  and  riches;  she  was  not  entirely  unfitted  to 
judge  a  man.  There  was  not  much  to  awaken  respect 
in  the  men  she  met  at  Crownlands,  still  less  in  the 
women.  She  liked  Ward  for  his  artless  boyishness; 
forgave  Anthony  Pope  much  because  he  was  straight 
and  clean  and  self-respecting;  but  there  were  plenty 
of  other  men,  spoiled  and  selfish,  weak  and  stupid;  men 
who  amused  and  flattered  Isabelle  Carter  perhaps,  but 
among  whom  her  husband  loomed  a  very  giant.  Har- 
riet had  watched  Richard  Carter  with  a  keenness  of 
which  she  was  hardly  conscious  herself,  ready  to  detect 
the  flaw,  the  weakness  in  his  character,  but  she  never 
found  it,  and  after  awhile  she  became  his  silent  cham- 
pion, his  secret  ally  in  all  domestic  matters,  quick  to 
see  that  his  mail  and  his  telephone  messages  were  sacred, 
that  his  meals  never  were  late,  and  that  any  small  re- 
quest, such  as  the  use  of  the  study  for  some  unexpected 
conference,  or  the  speedy  sending  of  a  telegram,  was 
promptly  granted. 

Isabelle  was  always  breezily  civil  to  her  husband;  he 
had  long  ago  vanished  as  completely  from  among  the 
vital  elements  of  her  life  as  if  he  were  dead,  perhaps 
more  than  if  he  were  dead.  She  thought — if  she 
thought  about  him  at  all — that  he  never  saw  her  little 
affairs;  she  supposed  him  perfectly  satisfied  with  his 
home  and  children  and  club  and  business,  and  incident- 


22  HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER 

ally  with  his  beautiful  figurehead  of  a  wife.  They  had 
quarrelled  distressingly,  several  years  ago,  when  he  had 
bored  her  with  references  to  her  "duty,"  and  her  in- 
fluence over  Nina,  and  her  obligations  to  her  true  self. 
But  that  had  all  stopped  long  since,  and  now  Isabelle 
was  free  to  sleep  late,  to  dress  at  leisure,  to  make  what 
engagements  she  pleased,  to  see  the  persons  who  inter- 
ested her.  Richard  never  interfered;  never  was  there 
a  more  perfectly  discreet  and  generous  husband.  Half 
the  women  Isabelle  knew  were  attempting  to  live  ex- 
actly as  she  did,  to  cultivate  "suitors,"  and  drift  about 
in  an  atmosphere  of  new  gowns  and  adulation  and 
orchids  and  softly  lighted  drawing  rooms,  and  incessant 
playing  with  fire;  it  was  the  accepted  thing,  in  Isabelle's 
circle,  and  that  she  was  more  successful  in  it  than  other 
women  was  not  at  all  to  her  discredit. 

Even  Harriet,  who  was  in  her  secrets,  who  saw  maid 
and  masseuse  and  hair-dresser  in  desperate  defence  of 
Isabelle's  beauty  every  morning,  who  knew  just  what 
scenes  there  were  over  gowns  and  cosmetics,  and  the  tilt 
of  hats — even  Harriet  admired  her. 

"Why  not?"  said  Harriet  sometimes  to  her  sister, 
when  she  went  to  visit  Linda,  and  the  subject  of  the 
beautiful  Mrs.  Carter  was  under  discussion.  "She  has 
a  boy  and  a  girl,  her  house  runs  perfectly,  her  husband 
adores  her 

"Oh,  he  cant  adore  her,  Harriet!"  Linda  would  pro- 
test. "No  man  could  adore  that  sort  of — of  shallow- 
ness,  and  selfishness,  and  vanity " 

"Well,  I  assure  you  he  does!  I  think  that  sort  of 
thing  keeps  a  man  admiring  a  woman,"  the  younger 
sister  would  maintain,  airily.  "He  sees  her  looking 


HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER  23 

like  a  picture  all  the  time,  he  sees  other  men  crazy 
about  her 

"Too  much  money!"  Linda  usually  summarized, 
disapprovingly.  But  this  was  always  fuel  to  Harriet's 
flame. 

"Too  much  money  ?  You  can't  have  too  much  money! 
I've  seen  both  sides — don't  ever  say  that  to  me! 
There's  nothing  in  this  world  but  money,  right  down  at 
the  bottom.  If  you  haven't  any,  you  can't  live,  and 
the  more  you  have  the  more  decently  and  prettily — yes, 
and  generously,  too — you  can  live!  Look  at  Madame 
Carter,  she  was  doing  her  own  work  when  she  was  my 
age — not  that  she  ever  mentions  that,  now!  Can  you 
tell  me  that  she  isn't  a  thousand  times  happier  now, 
with  her  maids  and  her  car  and  her  dresses?  And 
money  did  it — and  if  you  and  Fred  had  two  thousand, 
or  twenty  thousand,  a  month,  instead  of  two  hundred, 
do  you  mean  to  tell  me  your  lives  wouldn't  be  fuller,  and 
richer,  and  happier?  You  shake  your  head,  Linda,  but 
that's  just  to  make  me  furious,  for  you  know  it's  true! 
I  admire  Mrs.  Carter,  and  I  assure  you  that  if  ever  I  do 
marry — which  as  you  know  I  won't — you  may  be  very 
sure  that  money  is  the  first  thing  I  shall  think  about!" 

It  was  their  only  ground  for  real  dissension.  Harriet 
usually  was  ready  to  laugh  and  forget  it  almost  instantly; 
but  Linda,  who  was  deeply  spiritual,  never  ceased  to 
pray  that  all  the  dangers  of  life  at  Crownlands  would 
pass  safely  over  the  little  sister's  beloved  head,  and  that 
some  real  man,  "like  Fred,"  would  win  Harriet's 
turbulent  and  restless  heart,  after  all. 


CHAPTER  II 

MADAME  CARTER,  gathering  her  draperies  about  her, 
was  one  of  the  first  to  leave  the  terrace.  Dressing  for 
dinner  was  a  slow  and  serious  business  for  her.  She 
gave  Harriet  a  cold,  appraising  glance  as  she  passed  her; 
Richard  Carter  had  risen  to  escort  his  mother,  but  she 
delayed  him  for  a  moment. 

"Miss  Nina  gone  in,  Miss  Field?" 

Harriet,  whose  manner  with  all  old  persons  was  the 
essence  of  scrupulous  formality,  rose  at  once  to  her  feet. 

"Nina  has  gone  to  change  her  dress,  Madame  Carter." 

"She  took  it  upon  herself  to  ask  you  to  help  us  out 
this  afternoon?"  the  old  lady  added,  with  the  sort  of 
gracious  cruelty  of  which  she  was  mistress.  Richard 
Carter  gave  his  daughter's  companion  a  look  that  asked 
indulgence.  Harriet  coloured  brightly,  fixing  her  eyes 
upon  his  mother. 

"Nina  brought  me  a  message  from  her  mother, 
Madame  Carter." 

"Miss  Nina  did?"  Madame  Carter  amended  the 
title  as  if  absently.  "Mrs.  Carter,"  she  added,  with  a 
glance  toward  the  near-by  group  in  whose  centre  they 
could  see  the  cream-coloured  gown  with  its  pink  poppies, 
"told  me  that  she  was  surprised  to  see  that  you  had — 

had  stepped  into  the  breach  so  nicely Her  son's 

reproachful  glance  had  the  effect  of  interrupting  her, 
and  she  turned  to  him.  "Well,  I  am  saying  that  it  was 

24 


HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER  25 

very  nice  of  Miss  Field,  Richard,"  she  protested.  "I 
am  sure  there  is  no  harm  in  my  saying  that,  my 
dear!" 

Harriet  said  nothing,  and  resumed  her  seat  as  the  old 
lady  rustled  slowly  away.  Her  heart  was  hot  with  fury, 
and  she  was  only  partly  soothed  by  hearing  Richard 
Carter's  murmur  of  reproach:  "How  can  you  be  so 
perverse,  Mother — 

"Of  all   the    detestable,   horrible,   maddening — 
Harriet .  thought,    splashing  hot  water  and  clattering 
tea-cups.    "Who's  coming?"   she  added   aloud   in   an 
undertone  to  Ward,  as  one  more  motor  swept  about 
the  carriage  drive. 

"What  is  it,  Beautiful?"  Ward  laughed.  Harriet's 
glorious  eyes  widened  into  smiling  warning.  His  open 
and  boyish  admiration  was  a  sort  of  joke  between 
them.  Yet  in  this  second,  as  he  craned  his  neck  to  get 
a  glimpse  of  the  approaching  guests,  a  sudden  thought 
was  born  in  her.  Honour  had  compelled  her  to  a  gen- 
erous policy  with  Ward.  She  had  held  his  admiration 
firmly  in  check,  she  had  maintained  a  big-sister  at- 
titude that  was  as  wholesome  for  herself  as  for  him. 

But  here,  she  thought  with  sudden  satisfaction, 
might  be  her  answer  to  his  grandmother's  snubs,  might 
be  the  realization  of  her  own  ambition,  after  all.  Ward 
was  but  four  years  her  junior,  and  Ward  would  be 
Richard  Carter's  heir. 

No,  that  was  nonsense,  of  course.  And  yet  she  played 
with  the  thought  amusedly,  enjoying  the  vision  of  the 
old  lady's  anger  and  confusion,  and  of  the  world's  amaze- 
ment at  the  masterly  move  of  the  quiet  secretary. 
Richard  would  be  generous,  thought  Harriet  idly, 


26  HARRIET  AND  .THE  PIPER 

Isabella  philosophical  and  indifferent,  but  how  old 
Madame  Carter  would  writhe! 

"It's  the  Bellamys  and  their  crowd,"  said  Ward, 
watching  the  approach  of  newcomers.  "Look  at  that 
man  with  them,  that  fellow  with  the  hair — that's 
Blondin!  That's  the  man  I  was  telling  you  about  the 
other  night,  the  man  whose  name  I  couldn't  remember!" 

"Who?" 

Harriet  did  not  know  whether  she  said  it  or  screamed 
it.  She  lost  all  consciousness  of  her  surroundings  and 
her  neighbours  for  a  few  terrible  seconds;  her  mouth 
was  dry,  her  throat  constricted,  and  a  hideous  weakness 
ran  like  nausea  through  her  entire  body.  The  brilliant 
terrace  swam  in  a  mass  of  mingled  colours  before  her 
eyes;  the  casual,  happy  chatter  about  her  was  brassy 
and  unintelligible.  The  hand  with  which  she  touched 
the  sugar  tongs  was  icy  cold,  a  pain  split  her  forehead, 
and  she  felt  suddenly  tired  and  broken.  She  sat  per- 
fectly still,  like  a  trembling  little  mouse  in  a  trap,  the 
colour  drained  from  her  face,  her  breast  rising  and  fall- 
ing as  if  she  had  been  running. 

Ward  had  gone  across  to  greet  the  Bellamys;  Harriet 
fixed  her  eyes  with  a  sort  of  fascination  upon  the  man 
to  whom  she  presently  saw  him  talking.  Almost  every- 
one else  in  the  group  was  looking  at  him,  too;  Royal 
Blondin  was  used  to  it;  one  of  his  favourite  affectations 
was  an  apparent  unconsciousness  of  being  observed. 

He  talked  to  everyone,  to  children,  to  great  persons 
and  small,  with  the  same  air  of  intense  concentration 
with  which  he  was  now  honouring  Ward.  Well  over 
six  feet  in  height,  he  had  dropped  his  leonine  head, 
with  its  thick  locks  of  dark  hair,  a  little  on  one  side;. 


HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER  27 

his  mobile,  thin  lips  were  set,  and  his  piercing  eyes 
searched  the  boy's  face  with  a  sort  of  passionate  at- 
tention. 

His  figure  was  one  to  challenge  attention  anywhere. 
He  wore  a  loosely  cut  suit  of  pongee  silk,  the  collar  of 
the  shirt  flowing  open,  and  a  blue  scarf  knotted  at  the 
throat.  On  one  of  his  long  dark  hands  there  was  a 
blazing  sapphire  ring,  and  about  his  wide-brimmed 
Panama  hat  the  folded  silk  was  of  the  same  colour. 
Harriet  could  catch  the  intonations  of  his  voice,  a  deep 
and  musical  voice,  which  turned  the  trifles  they  were 
discussing  into  matters  of  sudden  import  and  beauty. 

Introductions  were  in  order,  everyone  wanted  to 
meet  the  Bellamys'  friend,  and  Harriet  saw  that  it 
pleased  him,  for  some  inscrutable  reason,  to  continue 
his  ridiculous  conversation  with  the  flattered  Ward, 
and  to  accept  names  and  greetings  absently,  in  an  aside, 
as  it  were,  smiling  perfunctorily  and  briefly  at  the  eager 
girls  and  women,  and  returning  immediately  to  his  con- 
cerned and  passionate  undertones  with  the  boy. 

Isabelle  fluttered  forward,  to  fare  a  little  more  fortu- 
nately. Ward  dropped  into  the  background  now,  and 
his  beautiful  little  mother  stood  in  a  full  sunset  flood  of 
light,  with  her  small  hand  in  that  of  the  lion,  and  the 
cream  and  black  hat,  with  its  pink  roses,  close  to  the 
drooping,  reverential  head. 

It  was  Isabelle  who  brought  him  to  the  tea  table. 
Harriet  had  felt,  with  a  sure  premonition  of  disaster, 
that  it  must  be.  She  might  not  escape,  there  was  noth- 
ing for  it  but  courage,  now.  Her  breath  was  behaving 
badly,  and  the  muscles  contracted  in  her  throat,  but 
she  managed  a  smile. 


28  HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER 

"And  this  is  Miss  Field,  Mr.  Blondin,"  said  Isabelle. 
"She  will  give  you  some  tea!" 

"Miss  Field,"  said  Royal  Blondin,  and  his  dark  hand 
came  across  the  tea-cups.  Harriet,  as  his  thin  mouth 
twitched  with  just  the  hint  of  a  smile,  looked  straight 
into  his  eyes,  and  she  knew  he  was  as  frightened  as  she. 
But  from  neither  was  there  a  visible  sign  of  consterna- 
tion. "No  tea,"  the  man  said,  making  of  the  decision 
a  splendid  and  significant  renunciation.  "Nothing — 
nothing!" 

"He  only  eats  about  once  a  month,  and  then  it's 
dates  and  hay  and  camel's  milk  and  carrots!"  Ward 
was  beginning.  Royal  Blondin  gave  him  a  look, 
deeply  amused  and  affectionate. 

"Not  quite  so  bad,  Laddie!"  he  protested,  mildly. 

"We  might  manage  the  dates,"  Isabelle  smiled. 
Harriet  had  not  spoken  because  she  was  quite  unable  to 
command  her  voice.  But  she  gained  it  now  to  say  in 
an  undertone: 

"I  think  I  shall  have  to  go  in,  Mrs.  Carter.  I  prom- 
ised Nina  some  help  with  her  Spanish.  I  wonder— 

"You  speak  Spanish,  Miss  Field?"  said  Royal 
Blondin,  in  Spanish. 

This  was  an  invitation  to  Ward  to  burst  into  involved 
sentences  in  the  tongue;  Royal  Blondin  turned  to  him 
seriously.  The  rest  of  the  company  might  be  bored  or 
not,  as  they  pleased,  but  he  was  only  interested  in  test- 
ing the  boy's  accent  and  vocabulary.  As  a  matter  of 
fact,  everyone  laughed  and  listened,  perfectly  appreciat- 
ing Ward's  mad  ventures  and  the  other  man's  liquid 
and  easy  assistance.  A  few  seconds  later  Harriet  Field 
slipped  from  her  place,  crossed  the  terrace  with  her 


HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER  29 

heart  beating  sick  and  fast  with  fright,  and  made  her 
escape. 

She  ran  up  the  awninged  steps  that  led  to  the  square 
great  hall,  and  ascertained  with  relief  that  it  was  empty. 
On  all  sides  wide  doorways  gave  her  perspectives:  the 
drawing  rooms,  in  their  brilliant  summer  covers;  the 
porches,  with  wicker  tables  and  chairs;  the  music  room; 
the  breakfast  room  all  cheerful  green  and  white;  the 
library,  in  cool  north  shadow;  and  the  dining  room, 
long  and  dark  and  dignified,  where  maids  were  already 
moving  noiselessly  about  the  business  of  dinner.  Here 
in  the  hall  was  the  pleasant  shade  and  coolness,  the 
subtle  drifting  scent  of  early  summer  flowers,  space,  and 
the  simplicity  of  dark  polished  floors  and  sombre  rugs. 
The  whole  house  seemed  empty,  lovely,  silent,  after  the 
confusion  of  the  terrace  and  the  heat  of  the  summer  day. 

Harriet  mounted  the  stairs,  threaded  the  familiar, 
pleasant  hallways  above.  She  and  Nina  had  a  luxuri- 
ous suite  on  the  second  floor,  shut  off  from  the  rest  of 
the  house  by  a  single  door,  and  rather  remotely  placed 
in  a  wing  that  commanded  a  superb  view  of  the  river. 
There  were  guest  rooms  on  this  floor,  Richard  Carter's 
room  and  his  wife's  beautiful  rooms,  and  there  was  an 
upstairs  sitting  room.  But  Madame  Carter  and  her 
grandson  and  his  friends  had  their  rooms  on  the  third 
floor,  the  old  lady  demanding  a  quiet  and  isolation  that 
her  daughter-in-law's  proximity  did  not  favour. 

Nina,  half-dressed,  was  sprawling  luxuriously  on  her 
bed  when  Harriet  came  in.  The  three  rooms  of  their 
suite  were  joined  by  doors  almost  always  open;  they 
were  small  rooms,  but  to  both  the  young  women  they 
.had  always  seemed  entirely  satisfactory.  Just  now 


30  HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER 

they  were  in  shade,  but  outside  the  windows  the  blue 
river  glittered,  and  the  fresh,  heavy  foliage  of  the  trees 
moved  softly,  and  inside  was  every  charm  of  furnishing, 
of  brilliant  flowered  draperies,  and  of  exquisite  order. 
There  was  a  business-like  heap  of  mail  on  Harriet's  big 
desk;  there  were  flowers  everywhere ;  fan-tailed  Japanese 
gold  fish  moved  languidly  about  in  a  tall  bowl  of  clear 
glass,  and  Nina's  emerald-green  parrot  walked  upon  his 
gaily  painted  perch,  and  muttered  in  a  significant  and 
chuckling  undertone.  Glass  doors  were  open  upon  a 
square  porch,  and  the  sweet  afternoon  air  stirred  the 
crisp,  transparent  curtains. 

Harriet  shut  the  door,  and  leaned  against  it,  and  the 
world  spun  about  her.  What  now?  What  now? 
What  now  ?  hammered  her  heart.  Nina  tossed  aside  her 
magazine,  and  regarded  her  with  affectionate  reproach. 

"You  ran  upstairs!"  she  said.  "I'm  lying  on  your 
bed  because  Maude  had  the  laundry  all  over  mine. 
Are  you  going  to  lie  down?" 

"No,  my  dear!"  said  Harriet,  in  an  odd,  breathy 
whisper. 

"You  did  run  upstairs!"  murmured  Nina.  She  sat 
up,  and  put  her  bare  feet  on  the  floor,  groping  for  slip- 
pers, and  yawned,  with  a  red  face.  "What  time  is  it?" 

"It's "  Harriet  shook  back  the  ruffle  at  her  wrist, 

twisted  her  arm  slightly,  and  looked  blindly  down. 

"Well?"  said  Nina,  when  she  dropped  her  hand* 
But  Harriet,  smiling  at  her  blankly,  had  to  look  again. 

"Six,  dear — almost.  Brush  your  hair,  and  get  into 
something,  and  we'll  have  half  an  hour  before  dinner 
comes  up.  I  must  be  downstairs  for  awhile  to-night,  I 
want  to  see  just  how  the  new  cook  sends  dinner  in- 


HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER  31 

Your  mother  wasn't  at  all  satisfied  with  luncheon 
yesterday.  I  don't  know  why  this  comes  to  me,"  she 
added,  busy  with  her  mail  in  the  little  sitting  room. 
"Something  your  father  ordered  through  the  club. 
I'll  send  that  to  Mr.  Fox.  Here's  the  bill  for  your  two 
hats — Miss  Nina  Carter,  by  Miss  Field." 

"What  was  the  blue  one?"  asked  Nina  in  the  door- 
way, from  a  cloud  of  hair. 

"The — blue — one,"  Harriet  said,  absently,  "was 
forty-five  dollars.  Not  bad  for  a  smart  little  English 
hat  with  a  little  curled  cock  feather  on  it,  was  it  ?  It's 
quite  the  nicest  you've  ever  had,  I  think."  What 
now? — What  now?  hammered  her  heart. 

"Granny  paid  three  times  that  for  that  brown  hat 
last  winter,"  observed  Nina. 

"I  know  she  did,  and  it  was  absolutely  an  unsuitable 
hat,  and  your  mother  wouldn't  let  you  wear  it,"  Harriet 
said,  mildly.  "You  are  a  type,  my  dear.  You  must 
dress  for  that  type." 

Nina  looked  pleased.  She  was  at  an  age  when  all 
girls  are  vain.  Few  people  noticed  the  appearance  of 
the  young  heiress  of  Richard  Carter,  except  perhaps 
with  kindly  pity,  but  it  was  part  of  Miss  Field's  duty  to 
make  the  best  of  it,  and  Nina  was  grateful. 

"I'll  wear  it  to  Francesca's  tea!"  she  said,  of  the  blue 
hat.  The  social  bow  of  a  young  neighbour,  a  little 
older  than  Nina,  was  to  be  made  in  a  few  days'  time,  at 
a  garden  party,  and  Nina  was  absorbed  in  the  exciting 
prospect  of  assisting  formally. 

"No,  it's  not  full  dress,"  Harriet  told  her.  "You'll 
have  to  wear  the  white  rnull,  and  the  white  hat,  and  look 
very  girly-girly." 


32  HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER 

"My  eye-glasses  make  me  look  like  a  school-teacher 
playing  baby,"  Nina  said,  gloomily.  Harriet  laughed, 
dazed,  but  not  ungrateful  to  find  that  she  could  laugh 
and  speak  at  all. 

"He's  come  back!"  she  said  in  her  heart.  "My 
darling  child,  you  aren't  going  to  wear  your  glasses!" 
she  assured  Nina,  aloud.  "Not  if  you  have  to  have  a 
dog  and  a  cane!  Not  if  you  fall  into  the  fountain!" 

"I  shall  be  scared  stiff!"  Nina  grumbled,  coming  out 
with  her  Spanish  books.  Harriet,  distracted  for  a  mo- 
ment, came  to  lean  over  her  shoulder,  and  the  terror 
of  half  an  hour  ago  began  to  flood  her  soul  and  mind 
again.  She  went  out  to  the  porch,  and  looked  down 
into  the  clear  shade  of  the  early  twilight,  under  the 
trees.  The  terrace  was  deserted;  every  sign  of  the  tea- 
party  ha.d  vanished,  not  a  crumb  marred  the  order  of 
the  grass-grown  bricks.  The  chairs  held  formal  atti- 
tudes, the  table  was  empty.  All  the  motor-cars  were 
gone  from  the  drive.  She  turned  back  into  the  room, 
breathing  more  easily. 

At  half-past  seven  she  came  up  from  a  little  diplo- 
matic adjusting  in  the  service  end  of  the  house,  to  peep 
at  Nina,  who  was  reading  in  bed,  and  to  go  on  to 
Isabelle's  room.  If  Mrs.  Carter  was  alone,  she  liked 
to  see  Harriet  then,  to  be  sure  of  any  last  message,  or  to 
discuss  any  domestic  plan. 

Harriet  found  her,  exquisite  in  twinkling  black 
spangles,  before  her  mirror.  Isabelle's  hair  was  dressed 
in  dark  and  shining  waves  and  scallops,  netted  invisibly, 
set  with  brilliant  pins.  There  was  not  an  inch  of  her 
whole  beautiful  little  oerson  that  would  not  have  sur- 


HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER  33 

vived  a  critical  inspection.  Her  skin,  her  white  throat, 
her  arms  and  hands  and  fingernails,  her  waist  and  ankles 
and  her  pretty  feet,  were  all  absolute  perfection.  The 
illusion  that  veiled  her  slender  arms  stood  at  crisp  angles; 
the  silk  stockings  showed  a  warm  skin  tint  through  their 
thinness;  her  lower  eyelids  had  been  skillfully  darkened, 
her  cheeks  delicately  rouged,  and  her  lips  touched  with 
carmine;  her  brows  had  been  clipped  and  trained 
and  pencilled,  her  lashes  brushed  with  liquid  dye,  and 
what  fragrant  powders  and  perfumes  could  add,  had 
been  added  in  generous  measure.  She  wore  diamonds 
on  her  fingers,  in  her  ears,  and  about  her  throat,  and 
her  gown  was  held  at  her  full  smooth  breast  by  a  plati- 
num bar  that  bore  a  double  line  of  magnificent  stones. 
Harriet  always  thought  her  handsome;  to-night  she  had 
to  admit  that  her  employer  was  truly  beautiful. 

Mrs.  Carter  was  in  a  pleasant  mood;  she  had  a  good 
disposition,  and  there  was  nothing  in  her  life  now  to 
ruffle  it.  She  liked  her  bright,  luxurious  dressing  room, 
and  the  progress  of  her  toilette  was  soothing  and  restful. 
Her  maid  had  been  busy  with  her  for  nearly  two  hours. 
The  air  was  warm  and  fragrant,  the  prospect  of  dinner, 
with  its  eagerly  attendant  Tony,  rather  stirred  her,  and 
the  mirror  had  everything  delightful  to  say.  Like  all 
women  of  forty,  Isabelle  liked  the  night,  tempered 
lights  and  becoming  settings,  and  the  dignity  of  formal 
entertaining.  Last  but  not  least,  she  had  a  new  toy 
to-night,  a  great  black  fan  of  uncurled  wild  ostrich 
plumes  whose  tumbled  beauty  she  waved  about  her 
slowly  as  Harriet  came  in,  watching  the  effect  in  the 
mirror  with  intense  satisfaction. 

"Oh,  pretty-pretty!"  Harriet  said,  seeing  it. 


34  HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER 

"Isn't  it  ducky?  Anthony  Pope  just  sent  it  to  me — 
the  dear  boy.  I  don't  know  where  he  picks  things  up, 
or  how  he  knows  what's  right."  Mrs.  Carter  half- 
closed  the  fan,  and  laid  it  against  her  bare  shoulder, 
and  looked  at  it  with  tipped  head  and  half-closed 
eyes. 

"Did  you  see  What's-His-Name?"  she  asked. 

Harriet  understood  the  allusion  to  the  new  chef. 

"I've  just  been  down  there,"  she  said.  "Every- 
thing seems  to  be  all  right,  and  looks  delicious!" 

"That's  nice  of  you,  Harriet,"  Isabelle  said.  The 
kitchen  was  not  strictly  Harriet's  responsibility,  but 
Mrs.  Carter  had  been  making  changes  there  of  late, 
and  the  girl's  interest  and  interference  were  invaluable. 
She  laid  down  the  fan,  and  pushed  a  silver  case  toward 
her  secretary,  at  the  same  time  helping  herself  to  a 
cigarette.  But  Harriet  shook  her  head. 

"You're  very  clever,  you  know,"  Isabelle  smiled, 
through  a  cloud  of  pale  smoke.  "You're  always  in 
character,  Harriet!" 

Harriet  smiled  her  inscrutable  smile;  there  was  just 
the  suggestion  of  a  shrug.  She  had  her  own  cigarette- 
case,  and  not  infrequently  used  it  in  Isabelle's  presence. 
But  at  this  hour,  when  Richard  or  Ward  or  Nina,  or 
even  Madame  Carter,  might  come  in,  she  felt  any 
familiarity  unsuitable.  Isabelle,  the  least  affected  of 
women,  for  all  her  spoiling  and  vanity,  perfectly  ap- 
preciated this,  and  liked  Harriet  for  it. 

"You  amuse  me,"  said  Isabelle,  making  a  long  arm 
to  brush  away  the  ash  from  her  cigarette,  "playing  your 
part  so  discreetly.  Your  neat  little  old-maidy  silks " 

"Is  k  old-maidy?"  Harriet  asked,  mildly,  glancing 


HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER  35 

down  at  the  severe  blue  cross-barred  gown  she  wore, 
and  straightening  a  transparent  cuff. 

"Not  on  you!"  Isabelle  assured  her.  But  her 
thoughts  never  left  herself  long,  and  presently  she  dis- 
contentedly introduced  her  favourite  topic:  "I  could 
have  been  a  business  woman,"  she  announced,  thought- 
fully, "my  father  wouldn't  hear  of  it,  of  course.  We 
had  no  money!" 

"We  had  no  money,  and  no  father,"  Harriet  observed. 
"So  I  had  no  choice.  At  eighteen  I  had  to  make  my 
own  way." 

"At  eighteen  I  jumped  into  marriage,"  the  older 
woman  said,  still  with  a  reminiscent  resentment  in  her 
tone.  "Mr.  Carter  had  his  mother  to  support,  of 
course.  We  thought  we  were  pretty  reckless  to  pay 
sixty  dollars  rent.  He  was  only  twenty,  he  was  getting 
what  was  supposed  to  be  an  enormous  salary  then. 
Heavens — it  seems  thousands  of  years  ago!" 

Harriet,  who  had  imagination,  could  see  it.  The 
little  brilliant  wife,  insisting  upon  the  fashionable 
apartment,  worrying  over  the  extravagances  of  the 
one  maid.  The  man  eager  only  to  push  on,  to  more 
money,  more  responsibility,  wider  fields,  to  make 
to-day's  extravagance  to-morrow's  reasonable  expendi- 
ture. 

Isabelle  picked  up  the  fan  again,  and  gave  her  brilliant 
presentment  in  the  mirror  a  complacent  glance. 

"Is  Mr.  Pope's  apartment  attractive?"  Harriet,  who 
knew  where  her  thoughts  were,  asked  idly.  The  older 
woman  heard  her  perfectly,  but  she  affected  indifference. 

"Is — I  didn't  hear  you.  Oh — Mr.  Pope's  apart- 
ment. My  dear,  it  is  perfection — absolutely.  I  have 


36  HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER 

never  seen  anything  so  beautiful,  and  so  beautifully 
managed.  And  all  by  that  boy.  He  has  two  coloured 
women  and  the  man — just  a  perfect  menage.  And 
they  adore  him.  Absolutely!"  She  mused  happily, 
her  lips  twitching  with  some  amusing  memory.  Then 
she  became  businesslike.  "Harriet,  do  you  go  to  the 
city  this  week?" 

"Nina  and  the  girls  are  to  see  Ruth  St.  Denis  on 
Friday,"  Harriet  said.  "I  thought  Madame  Carter 
would  take  them,  but  now  she  says  no.  But  if  Nina 
stays  with  her  grandmother  overnight,  I  thought  I 
would  like  to  see  my  sister;  she  hasn't  been  very  well. 
That  can  wait,  of  course.  Miss  Jay's  tea-party  is  to- 
morrow; that's  Thursday— 

"And  that  reminds  me  that  Louise  Jay  telephoned 
to-day,  and  asked  me  if  you  would  take  charge  of  the 
tea  table,"  Isabelle  said,  with  a  shrewd  glance. 

"At  Mrs.  Jay's  house?"  Harriet  asked,  after  a 
second. 

"Yes,  at  Francesca's  tea-party!" 

Harriet  hesitated,  and  the  colour  crept  into  her 
smooth  cheeks. 

"I  wonder  why  she  asked  that?" 

"Because,  in  the  first  place,  no  one  will  drink  tea," 
Isabelle  who  was  watching  her  intently  said  promptly. 
"In  the  second,  Morgan  won't  be  there,  because  she 
says  it's  a  kiddies'  tea.  I  can't  be  there,  and  presum- 
ably Mrs.  Jay  wants  to  depend  on  someone." 

"One  wonders,"  mused  Harriet,  in  a  most  unprom- 
ising tone,  "whether  one  is  asked  as  a  maid,  or  a 
guest?" 

"In  this  case,  as  a  mother,"  Isabelle  was  inspired  to 


HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER  37 

answer.     "Personally,  I  should  very  much  like  it  for 
Nina's  sake.     But  you  suit  yourself!" 

The  tone  denied  the  words;  Harriet  knew  what  she 
was  expected  to  do.  She  knew  that  Isabelle  would  tell 
Mrs.  Jay,  in  a  day  or  two,  that  she  had  simply  men- 
tioned it  to  Miss  Field,  and  Miss  Field  had  been  free  to 
act  exactly  as  she  pleased.  She  knew  that  faintly 
annoyed  expression  on  Isabelle's  face. 

"I'll  be  delighted  to  help!"  she  said,  lifelessly.  "A 
lot  of  women  and  children,"  she  reflected,  "and  nobody 
drinking  tea  anyway,  this  weather!" 

"I  say,  Mater,"  Ward  said  from  the  doorway,  with 
what  he  fondly  believed  to  be  an  English  accent,  "I'm 
no  end  peckish,  what  what?  Say,  Mother,"  he  added, 
becoming  suddenly  serious,  "what  do  you  think  of 
Blondin?  Isn't  he  a  corker?  Say,  listen,  are  you 
going  to  ask  him  to  dinner?  Do  we  have  to  have  the 
whole  Bellamy  tribe  if  we  ask  him,  Miss  Harriet?" 

"Don't  spill  things  and  fuss  with  things,  Ward,"  his 
mother  protested  plaintively,  protecting  her  bottles 
and  jars  from  his  big  hands  as  he  sat  down.  "Yes, 
dear,  we'll  have  him.  I  like  him  because  he  was  so 
enthusiastic  about  you.  He's  really  quite  a  person." 

"Person — you  bet  he  is!"  Ward  said.  "Gosh,  he 
knows  everything.  You  ought  to  get  him  started 
about — oh,  I  don't  know,  philosophy,  and  the  way  we 
all  are  forever  getting  things  we  don't  want,  and  music 
—he  can  beat  the  box,  believe  me!  He  gave  talks  at 

the  Pomeroys'  last  year 

Nina,  trailing  in  in  a  blue  wrapper,  sat  herself  upon  a 
chair,  wrapped  her  garments  about  her,  and  entered 
interestedly  into  the  conversation. 


38  HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER 

'"The  Ethics  of  the  Everyday',"  she  contributed. 
"  I  remember  it  because  Adelaide  Pomeroy  and  I  used  to 
be  in  the  pantry,  eating  the  tea  things.  And  he  talked 
at  our  school  about  Tagore." 

"I  remember  those  talks  at  Lizzie  Pomeroy 's," 
Isabelle  said,  thoughtfully.  "I  wish  I  had  gone!  I 
suppose  he's  got  a  book  out.  Will  you  see  if  you  can 
get  me  anything  he's  written  when  you're  in  town, 
Harriet?  If  we're  going  to  have  him  here — 

She  glanced  at  herself  in  the  glass,  where  a  more  prim- 
itive woman,  in  a  jungle,  would  have  commenced  a  slow, 
solitary  dance  and  song.  If  the  hint  of  a  scornful 
smile  touched  the  secretary's  beautiful  mouth,  she  sup- 
pressed it.  She  had  a  little  notebook  in  her  pocket, 
and  in  it  she  duly  entered  the  name  of  Royal  Blondin. 

"Too  much  rouge  on  this  side,  Mother,"  said  Ward. 
Mrs.  Carter  picked  up  a  hand-mirror,  and  studied  her- 
self carefully.  When  she  had  powdered  and  rubbed 
one  cheek,  she  thoughtfully  rouged  her  lips  again, 
pouting  them  artfully,  while  Harriet  and  the  children 
chattered.  Nina  was  full  of  excited  anticipation. 
Francesca's  tea  to-morrow,  and  the  box-party  on  Fri- 
day, and  a  new  gown  for  each — Nina  fancied  herself 
already  a  popular  and  lovely  debutante.  Harriet  im- 
agined that  she  saw  something  of  a  brother's  pity  in 
Ward's  eyes  as  he  watched  her.  Ward  himself  looked 
his  best  in  his  evening  black,  and  several  years  older 
than  he  really  was. 

"We're  a  handsome  couple,  Miss  Harriet,"  said 
Ward,  with  a  glance  toward  the  door  of  solid  mirror 
that  chanced  to  reflect  them  both.  "Aren't  we, 
Mother?" 


HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER  39 

"You're  an  idiot!"  said  Nina,  scornfully.  Harriet 
laughed  maternally,  but  in  spite  of  herself  her  idle  dream 
of  the  afternoon  returned  for  a  second,  and  she  won- 
dered just  how  that  faintly  supercilious  smile  of  Isa- 
belle's  would  be  affected  if  she  had  her  own  right,  here 
in  this  family  group,  a  Carter  of  the  Carters,  a  daughter 
of  the  house.  And  thinking  this,  her  smoky  blue  eyes 
met  Ward's,  and  perhaps  there  was  something  in  them 
that  he  had  not  seen  there  before.  At  all  events,  she 
was  ashamed  to  see  him  colour  suddenly,  and  become 
a  little  incoherent,  and  to  have  him  turn  to  her  his  full 
attention,  with  a  sort  of  boyish  clumsiness  that  was 
touching  in  its  way.  Imaginary  or  not,  the  trifling 
episode  troubled  her,  and  as  Madame  Carter  came  ma- 
jestically in  and  the  little  clock  on  the  dresser  pointed 
to  the  hour,  she  said  her  good-nights,  and  carried  Nina 
off  again. 

Richard  Carter's  wife  and  mother  differed  in  no  par- 
ticular more  strikingly  than  in  their  attitude  toward 
the  toilet  artifices  they  both  employed  so  lavishly. 
The  old  lady's  beauty  was  even  more  than  Isabelle's 
assisted  by  art,  for  her  snowy-white  hair  was  a  wig,  her 
teeth  not  her  own,  and  her  eyebrows  quite  openly  manu- 
factured without  one  single  natural  hair  to  build  upon. 
But  it  pleased  her  generation  to  regard  these  facts  as 
sacred,  and  to  assume  that  the  secrets  of  the  boudoir 
were  unsuspected.  Even  Nina  never  saw  so  much  as  a 
powder  puff  in  her  grandmother's  dressing  room,  and 
any  compliment  upon  her  hair  or  complexion  Madame 
Carter  received  with  gracious  dignity. 

She  looked  at  Ward's  departing  back,  now,  and  re- 
marked with  pointed  reproof: 


40  HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER 

"  My  son  has  never  seen  his  mother  even  in  the  act  of 
brushing  her  hair!  There  are  reserves — there  are 
niceties— 

"Where  did  you  have  it  brushed — down  at  the  shop  ? " 
Isabelle  asked,  laughing.  Madame  Carter  never  failed 
to  be  staggered  by  her  daughter-in-law's  irreverence, 
yet  she  never  could  quite  resist  the  criticisms  that 
courted  it. 

"For  the  last  few  years,  I  admit,"  she  conceded  with  a 
somewhat  shaken  dignity,  "I  admit  that  I  have  had 
recourse  to  what  they  call  'puffs' — you  know  what  I 
mean?  Made  of  my  own  hair,  of  course 

"Made  of  your  own  imagination!"  Isabelle  amended, 
in  her  own  heart.  But  she  only  gave  the  old  lady  a 
somewhat  disquieting  smile  as  she  picked  up  the  tum- 
bled black  fan  and  led  the  way  down  to  dinner. 


CHAPTER  III 

NINA  was  duly  dressed  for  the  tea-party  the  next  day, 
and  went  to  show  herself  to  her  mother  while  Harriet 
dressed.  The  young  girl  really  did  look  her  best  in  the 
filmy  white  with  its  severely  plain  ruffles,  and  with  a  wide 
white  hat  on  her  thick,  smoothly  dressed  hair.  Miss 
Field,  too,  although  she  was  very  pale  to-day,  looked 
"simply  gorgeous,"  as  Isabelle  expressed  it,  when  she 
saw  them  off  in  the  car,  although  Harriet's  gown  was 
not  new,  and  the  little  flowered  hat  she  had  crushed 
down  upon  her  splendid  hair  had  been  Isabelle's  own 
a  season  ago.  Harriet  was  in  no  holiday  mood;  she 
felt  herself  in  a  false  position;  this  was  to  be  one  of  the 
times  when  she  paid  high  for  all  the  beauty  and  luxury 
of  her  life. 

" .  .  .  so  then  when  she  came  to  me,"  Nina  was 
recounting  the  reception  of  some  celebrity  at  school,  "of 
course  I  was  awfully  shy;  you  know  me!"  She  was 
suddenly  diverted.  "But  I'm  not  as  shy  as  I  used  to 
be,  am  I,  Miss  Harriet?"  she  asked,  confidingly. 

"Not  nearly!"  Harriet  made  herself  say,  encour- 
agingly. 

"Well,  then,"  Nina  resumed,  "when  she  came  to  me 
I  don't  know  what  I  said — I  just  said  something  or 
other — I  can't  for  the  life  of  me  remember  what  it  was! 
Probably  I  just  said  that  I  had  seen  her  in  her  last  three 
plays  or  something  like  that,  anyway — anyway,  she 

41 


42  HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER 

said  to  Miss  .King  that  she  had  noticed  me,  and  she 
said,  'It's  an  aristocratic  face!'  Amy  Hawkes  told  me, 
for  a  trade  last.  The  girls  were  wild — they  were  all  so 
crazy  to  have  her  notice  them,  you  know,  and  I  thought 
— I  thought  of  course  she'd  speak  of  Lucia  or  Ethel 
Benedict  or  one  of  those  prettier  girls;  although,"  said 
Nina,  with  her  little  air  of  conscientiousness,  "Ethel 
didn't  look  a  bit  pretty  that  day.  Sometimes  she  does; 
sometimes  she  looks  perfectly  lovely!  But  that  day  she 
looked  sort  of  colourless.  'Aristocratic'!"  Nina 
laughed  softly.  "Well,  I'd  rather  look  aristocratic 
than  be  the  prettiest  girl  in  the  world,  wouldn't 
you?" 

Harriet  glanced  at  her  with  something  like  pity. 
This  was  Nina  in  her  before-the-party  mood.  Her 
confidence  and  complacency  would  all  begin  to  ooze 
away  from  her,  presently,  and  the  words  that  came  so 
readily  to  Harriet  would  refuse  to  flow  at  all  to  any  one 
else.  She  would  come  home  saying  that  she  hated 
parties  because  people  were  all  so  shallow  and  uninter- 
esting, and  that  she  couldn't  help  what  her  friends  said 
of  her,  she  just  wouldn't  descend  to  that  sort  of  non- 
sense. 

"Here  we  are!"  Harriet  rather  drily  interrupted  the 
flood.  Nina  gave  a  startled  glance  at  the  lawns  and 
gardens  of  the  Jay  mansion  already  dotted  with 
awnings  and  chairs,  and  sprinkled  with  the  bright 
gowns  of  the  first  arrivals.  They  were  early,  and  their 
hostess,  a  handsome,  heavily  built  woman  with  corsets 
like  armourplate  under  her  exquisite  gown,  and  a  blonde 
bang  covering  her  forehead,  came  forward  with  her 
daughter  to  meet  them.  Francesca  was  as  slight  as  a 


HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER  43 

willow,  with  a  demurely  drooped  little  head  and  a 
honeyed  little  self-possessed  manner. 

"Very  decent  of  you,  Miss  Field!"  breathed  Mrs. 
Jay,  in  a  voice  like  that  of  a  horn.  "You  girls  run 
along  now — people  will  be  comin'  at  any  minute.  I'm 
going  to  take  Miss  Field  to  the  table.  Three  hundred 
people  comin',"  she  confided  as  Harriet  followed  her 
across  the  lawn,  and  to  the  rather  quiet  corner  of  the 
awninged  porch  where  the  tea  table  stood,  "and  Mist' 
Jay  just  sent  me  a  message  that  he  won't  be  here  until  six. 
My  older  daughter,  Morgan,  is  stayin'  with  the  Tom 

Underbills — you  know  their  place — lovely  people 

Well,  now,  I'll  leave  you  here,  and  you  just  ask  for  any- 
thing you  need 

The  matron  melted  away;  Harriet  looked  after  her 
broad,  retreating  back  indifferently.  Everyone  knew 
Mrs.  Jay,  a  harmless,  generous,  good-natured  and  hos- 
pitable target  for  much  secret  criticism  and  laughter. 
The  odd  thing  was,  old  Mrs.  Carter  had  sometimes 
pointed  out  to  the  dutifully  listening  Harriet,  that  the 
woman  really  came  of  an  excellent  family,  so  that  her 
little  affectations,  her  fondness  for  the  phrases  "my 
older  daughter,  Morgan,"  and  "lovely  people,  loads 
of  money,  you  know  them?"  were  honest  enough,  in 
their  way.  She  would  have  loaned  Harriet  any  amount 
of  money,  the  girl  reflected,  smouldering,  she  would 
have  shown  her  genuine  friendship  and  generosity  in  a 
crisis.  But  she  would  not  introduce  people  to  Harriet 
this  afternoon,  and  in  a  day  or  two  she  would  send 
Harriet  a  bit  of  lace,  or  a  dainty  waist,  as  a  delicate 
reminder  that  the  courtesy  had  been  a  business  one, 
after  all. 


44  HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER 

The  afternoon  was  the  perfection  of  summer  beauty, 
and  after  a  few  moments'  solitude  Harriet  began  to  feel 
its  spell.  She  put  her  cups  and  spoons  in  order,  and  chat- 
ted with  a  hovering  maid.  Some  elderly  persons  came 
out  and  sat  near,  and  were  grateful  for  the  quiet  and  the 
tea.  From  the  reception  line,  on  the  lawn,  came  such 
a  brainless  confusion  of  jabbering  and  chattering  as 
might  well  appall  the  old  and  nervous. 

And  presently  the  sun  came  out  for  Harriet  in  the 
arrival  of  a  tall,  swiftly  moving,  dark-eyed  woman  some 
ten  years  older  than  she  was  herself:  Mary  Putnam,  one 
of  the  real  friends  the  girl  had  gained  in  the  last  four 
years.  Young  Mrs.  Putnam,  Harriet  used  to  think, 
with  a  little  natural  jealousy  under  her  admiration, 
had  everything.  She  was  not  pretty,  but  hers  was  a 
distinguished  appearance  and  a  lovely  face;  she  had  the 
self-possessed  manner  of  a  woman  whose  whole  life 
has  been  given  to  the  social  arts;  she  had  a  clever, 
kindly,  silent  husband  who  adored  her;  her  home,  her 
garden,  her  clubs  and  her  charities,  and  finally  she  had 
her  nursery,  where  Billy  and  Betty  were  rioting  through 
an  ideal  childhood. 

"Harriet — you  dear  child!"  said  the  rich  and  pleased 
voice,  as  Mary's  fine  hand  crossed  the  tea  table  for  a 
welcoming  touch.  "But  how  nice  to  find  you  here! 
I'm  trying  to  get  some  tea  for  Mr.  Putnam's  aunt  and 
mother,  but,  my  dear — it's  getting  very  thick  out  there ! " 

"I  can  imagine  it!"  Harriet  glanced  toward  the 
lawn. 

"I've  been  wanting  to  see  you,"  Mrs.  Putnam  said  in 
an  undertone.  "But  suppose  I  carry  them  a  tray 
first?  Harriet,  you  are  prettier  than  ever.  I  love  the 


HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER  45 

green  stripes!  I've  just  been  trying  to  think  how  long 
it  is  since  I've  seen  you." 

"Not  since  the  day  you  lunched  with  Mrs.  Carter, 
and  that  was  almost  two  weeks  ago!"  Harriet's  hands 
were  busy  with  cups  and  plates;  now  she  nodded  to  a 
maid.  "Mayn't  Inga  carry  this  to  your  mother,  Mrs. 
Putnam?"  she  asked.  "And  couldn't  you  stay  here 
and  have  some  tea  yourself?" 

Mrs.  Putnam  immediately  settled  herself  in  the 
neighbouring  chair. 

"I'm  chaperoning  little  Lettice  Graham  for  a  week," 
she  began,  in  the  delightful  voice  upon  which  Harriet 
had  modelled  her  own.  "  But  Lettice  is  trying  her  little 
arts  upon  Ward  Carter.  Dear  boy,  that!" 

"Ward?     He  is  a  dear!"  Harriet  said,  innocently. 

"No  blushing?"  Mary  Putnam  asked,  with  a  smiling 
look.  The  colour  came  into  Harriet's  lovely  face,  and 
the  smoky  blue  eyes  widened  innocently. 

"Blushing — for  Ward/"  she  asked. 

Mrs.  Putnam  stirred  her  tea  thoughtfully. 

"I  didn't  know,"  she  said.  "You're  young,  and  you 
know  him  well,  and  you're — well,  you  have  appear- 
ance, as  it  were ! " 

Harriet  laughed. 

"Ward  is  twenty-two,"  she  observed. 

"And  you're ?" 

"I  shall  be  twenty-seven  in  August." 

"Well,  that's  not  serious,"  the  older  woman  decided, 
mildly.  "The  point  is,  he's  a  man.  Ward  has  fine 
stuff  in  him,"  she  added,  "and  also,  I  think,  he  is  be- 
ginning to  care.  It  would  be  an  engagement  that 
would  please  the  Carters,  I  imagine." 


46  HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER 

The  word  engagement  brought  a  filmy  vision  before 
Harriet's  eyes,  born  of  the  fragrance  and  sunshine  of  the 
summer.  She  saw  a  ring,  laughter  and  congratulations, 
dinner  parties  and  receptions,  shopping  in  glittering 
Fifth  Avenue. 

"Perhaps  it  would,"  she  said,  with  a  hint  of  surprise 
in  her  tone.  "They  are  really  very  simple,  and  always 
good  to  me!  But  old  Madame  Carter,"  she  laughed, 
"would  go  out  of  her  mind!" 

"A  boy  in  Ward's  position  may  do  much  worse  than 
marry  a  lovely  and  sensible  woman,"  Mrs.  Putnam  said. 
"Wdl,  it  just  occurred  to  me.  It  is  your  affair,  of 
course.  But  looking  back  one  sees  how  much  just  the 
— well,  the  lack  of  a  tiny  push  has  meant  in  one's  life!" 

"And  this  is  the  push?"  Harriet  said,  her  heart  full 
of  the  confusion  and  happiness  that  this  unusual  mood 
of  confidence  and  affection  on  Mary  Putnam's  part  had 
brought  her. 

"Perhaps!"  The  smooth,  cool  hand  touched  hers 
for  a  second  before  Mrs.  Putnam  went  upon  her  gra- 
cious way.  Harriet  hardly  heard  the  bustle  and  con- 
fusion about  her  for  a  few  minutes.  She  sat  musing, 
with  her  splendid  eyes  fixed  upon  some  point  invisible 
to  the  joyous  group  about  her. 

To  Nina,  meanwhile,  had  come  the  most  extraordi- 
nary hour  of  her  life.  It  had  begun  with  the  familiar 
and  puzzling  humiliations,  but  where  it  was  to  end  the 
fluttered  heart  of  the  seventeen-year-old  hardly  dared 
to  think. 

She  had  sauntered  to  a  green  bench,  under  great 
maples,  with  Lettice  Graham  and  Harry  Troutt  and 


HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER  47 

Anna  Poett.  And  Joshua  Brevoort  had  come  for  Anna, 
and  they  had  sauntered  away,  with  that  mysterious 
ease  with  which  other  girls  seemed  to  manage  young 
men.  And  then  Harry  and  Lettice  had  in  some  manner 
communicated  with  each  other,  for  Lettice  had  jumped 
up  suddenly,  saying,  "Nina,  will  you  excuse  us?  We'll 
be  back  directly,"  and  they  had  wandered  off  in  the 
direction  of  the  river,  giggling  as  they  went.  Nina  had 
smiled  gallantly  in  farewell,  but  her  feelings  were 
deeply  hurt.  She  hated  to  sit  on  here,  visibly  alone, 
and  yet  there  was  small  object  in  going  back  to  the  ab- 
sorbed groups  nearer  the  house. 

Then  came  the  miracle.  For  as  she  uncomfortably 
waited,  Ward's  friend,  the  queer  man  with  the  black 
eyes  and  thick  hair,  suddenly  took  the  seat  beside  her. 
Nina's  heart  gave  a  plunge,  for  if  she  was  ill  at  ease 
with  "kids"  like  Harry  and  Joshua,  how  much  less 
could  she  manage  a  conversation  with  the  lion  of  the 
hour!  But  Royal  Blondin  needed  no  help  from  Nina. 

"You're  little  Miss  Carter,  aren't  you?"  he  said. 
"We  were  introduced,  back  there,  but  there  were  too 
many  young  men  around  you  then  for  me  to  get  a  word 
in!  However,  I  was  watching  you — I  wonder  if  you 
know  why  I've  been  watching  you  all  afternoon?" 

Nina  cleared  her  throat,  and  gave  one  fleeting  upward 
glance  at  the  dark  and  earnest  eyes. 

"I'm  sure  I  don't  know  why  any  one  should  watch 
me!"  she  tried  to  say.  But  everything  after  the  first 
three  words  was  lost  in  the  ruffles  of  the  white  gown. 

"I'll  tell  you  why.  I  watched  you  because,  from  the 
moment  I  saw  you,  I  said  to  myself,  'if  that  little  girl 
isn't  utterly  wretched  and  out  of  her  element,  among 


48  HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER 

all  these  shallow  chatterers  and  gigglers,  I'm  mistaken!' 
I  saw  the  lads  gather  about  you,  and  I  had  my  little 
laugh — you  must  forgive  me! — at  the  quiet  little  way 
you  evaded  them  all.  Nice  boys,  all  of  them!  But 
not  worth  your  while!" 

Nina  murmured  a  confidence. 

"What  did  you  say?"  Blondin  said.  "But  come," 
he  added,  frankly,  "you're  not  afraid  of  me,  are  you? 
My  dear  little  girl,  I'm  old  enough  to  be  your  father! 
Look  up — I  want  to  see  those  eyes.  That's  better. 
Now,  that's  more  friendly.  Tell  me  what  you  said?" 

"I  said — that  Mother  expected  me  to — to  like  them." 

"To ?  Oh,  to  like  the  boys.  Mother  expects  it  ? 

Of  course  she  does !  And  some  day  she'll  expect  to  dress 
you  in  white,  and  bid  us  all  to  come  and  dance  at  the 
wedding!  But  in  the  meantime,  Mother  mustn't  blame 
someone  who  has  just  a  little  more  discernment  than — 
well,  young  Brevoort,  for  example,  for  seeing  that  her 
tame  dove  is  really  a  wild  little  sea-gull  starving  for  the 
sea.  Now,  look  here,  Miss  Nina,  you  hate  all  this 
society  nonsense,  don't  you?" 

"Loathe  it!"  Nina  stammered,  with  a  little  excited 
laugh. 

"Loathe  it?  Of  course  you  do!  Of  course  you  do! 
And  you  don't  want  to  fall  in  love  with  one  of  these 
lads  for  a  year  or  two,  anyway?" 

"Oh,  my,  no!"  Nina  felt  the  expression  inadequate, 
but  her  breath  had  been  taken  away.  The  man  had 
turned  about  a  little,  his  eyes  were  all  for  her,  and  his 
arm,  laid  carelessly  along  the  back  of  the  green  bench, 
almost  touched  the  white  ruffles.  They  were  in  full 
signt  of  the  house,  too,  and  if  Lettice  or  Anna  came 


HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER  49 

back,  they  would  see  Nina  in  deep  and  lasting  conversa- 
tion with  the  man  that  all  the  older  women  were  so 
mad  about— 

"You  don't.  But — what?"  He  bent  his  dark 
head. 

"I  said,  'But  I  don't  know  how  you  knew  it'!"  Nina 
repeated,  looking  down  in  her  overwhelming  self- 
consciousness,  but  with  a  smile  of  utter  happiness  and 
excitement. 

A  second  later  she  looked  up  in  some  alarm.  He  was 
silent — she  had  somehow  said  the  awkward  thing  again! 
Nina's  heart  fluttered  nervously. 

But  what  she  saw  reassured  her.  Royal  Blondin  had 
squared  himself  about,  and  had  folded  his  arms,  and  was 
staring  darkly  into  space. 

"How  I  knew  it!"  he  said  in  a  half-whisper,  as  if  to 
himself,  after  a  full  half-minute  of  silence  that  thrilled 
Nina  to  the  soul.  "Child,  I  don't  know!  Some  day 
you  and  I  will  read  books  together — wonderful  books! 
And  then  perhaps  we  will  begin  to  understand  the 
cosmic  secret — why  your  soul  reaches  out  to  mine — 
why  I  not  only  want  to  know  you  better,  but  why  it  is 
my  solemn  obligation  to  take  the  exquisite  thing  your 
coming  into  my  life  may  mean  to  us  both !  You're  only 
a  child,"  he  went  on,  in  a  lighter  tone,  "and  I  can  read 
those  big  eyes  of  yours,  and  can  see  that  I'm  frighten- 
ing you!  Well,  this  much  remains.  You  and  I  have 
somehow  found  each  other  in  all  this  wilderness  of  lies 
and  affectations,  and  we're  going  to  be  friends,  aren't 
we?" 

"I — hope  we  are!"  Nina  said,  clearing  her  throat, 
with  a  bashful  laugh. 


50  HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER 

"You  know  we  are!"  Royal  Blondin  amended.  And 
in  a  musing  tone  he  added:  "I'm  afraid  I  was  a  little 
bitter  a  few  hours  ago.  And  then  I  saw  you,  just  an 
honest,  brave,  bewildered  little  girl,  wondering  why 
the  deuce  they  all  make  such  a  fuss  about  nothing — 
clothes  and  bridge  parties  and  dinners — 

"They  never  say  anything  worth  while!"  Nina  said, 
with  daring.  There  was  exquisite  homage  in  the  drop- 
ped, listening  head,  the  eyes  that  smiled  so  close  to  her 
own.  "  But  if  I  tell  Mother  that,  she  thinks  I'm  crazy ! " 
she  added,  lapsing  into  the  school  vernacular  against 
a  desperate  effort  to  sustain  the  conversation  at  his 
level. 

"Because  you're  a  little  natural  rebel,"  interpreted 
the  man,  smilingly.  "And  that's  the  price  we  pay  for  it ! " 

"I'm  afraid  I've  always  been  a  rebel,  then!"  confessed 
Nina. 

"Yes,  those  eyes  of  yours  say  that,"  Blondin  con- 
ceded, sadly.  "And  it  doesn't  make  for  happiness, 
Little  Girl!"  he  warned  her. 

Nina  narrowed  her  eyes,  and  stared  into  the  green 
garden.  She  was  not  wearing  her  glasses  to-day,  and 
hers  were  fine  eyes,  albeit  a  trifle  prominent,  and  with  a 
somewhat  strained  expression. 

" Oh,  I  know  that ! "  she  said.  " Mother  and  Father," 
she  confided,  with  the  merciless  calm  of  seventeen, 
"they'd  like  rne  to  be  exactly  like  all  the  other  girls, 
flirting  and  dressing,  and  rushing  about  all  day  and  all 
night!  But  oh — how  I  hate  it!  Oh,  I  like  the  girls 
and  boys — truly  I  do,  and  I  am  popular  with  them  all, 
I  know  that!  But  'cases'!"  said  Nina  with  scorn. 

"Dear    Heaven!"    Royal    said,    under    his    breath. 


HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER  51 

"No — no — no — that's  not  for  you!"  he  murmured. 
"And  yet—  "  and  he  turned  upon  her  a  look  that  Nina 
was  to  remember  with  a  thrill  in  the  waking  hours  of  the 
summer  night — "and  yet,  is  it  kindness  to  wake  you  up, 
child?"  he  mused.  .  "Is  it  right  to  show  you  the  full 
beauty  of  that  questing  soul  of  yours?" 

It  was  said  as  if  to  himself,  as  if  he  thought  aloud. 
But  Nina  answered  it. 

"I  often  think,"  she  said,  mirthfully,  "that  if  people 
knew  what  I  was  thinking,  they'd  go  crazy!  'Oh,  isn't 
the  floor  lovely — isn't  the  music  divine!  Are  you 
going  to  the  club  to-morrow?  What  are  you  going  to 
wear?'" 

It  was  not  a  very  brilliant  imitation  of  a  society  girl's 
tone  and  manner,  but  Royal  Blondin  seemed  deeply 
impressed  by  it. 

"Look  here!"  he  said.     "You're  a  little  actress!" 

"No.  I'm  not!"  Nina  laughed.  "But  I  can  always 
imitate  anything  or  anybody,"  she  admitted.  "It 
makes  the  girls  perfectly  wild  sometimes!  But  Ward's 
different,"  she  resumed,  going  back  to  the  more  serious 
topic.  "I  envy  Ward!  He  is  just  as  different  from  me 
as  black  and  white.  Now  Ward  likes  everyone — and 
everyone  likes  him.  He  just  drifts  along,  perfectly 
content  to  be  popular,  and  to  have  a  good  time,  and  to 
do  the  regular  thing,  and  of  course  he  knows  nothing 
of  moods !" 

"Bless  the  lad!"  Blondin  said,  paternally. 

"Oh,  I  manage  to  keep  the  appearance  of  doing  ex- 
actly what  the  others  do,"  Nina  hastened  to  say,  "and 
I  laugh  and  flirt  just  as  if  that  was  the  only  thing  in  life! 
If  peopk  want  to  think  I  am  a  butterfly,  why,  let  them 


52  HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER 

think  so!  My  friend  Miss  Hawkes  says  that  I  have 
two  natures — but  I  don't  know  about  that!" 

She  looked  up  at  him  to  find  his  eyes  fixed  steadily 
upon  her,  and  flushed  happily,  with  a  fast-beating  heart. 

"With  one  of  those  natures  I  have  nothing  to  do," 
Royal  said.  "But  the  other  I  claim  as  my  friend. 
Come,  how  about  it?  Are  we  going  to  be  friends?  I 
am  old  enough  to  be  your  father,  you  know;  you  may 
tell  Mother  that  it  is  perfectly  safe.  When  the  right 
young  man  comes  to  claim  you,  why,  I'll  resign  my 
little  friend  with  all  the  good  will  in  the  world.  But 
meanwhile,  am  I  going  to  pick  you  out  some  books,  am 
I  going  to  have  some  talks  as  wonderful  as  this  one  now 
and  then?  No — not  as  wonderful,  for  of  course  this 
sort  of  thing  doesn't  come  twice  in  a  lifetime!  Will 
you  give  me  your  hand  on  it — and  your  eyes?  Good 
girl!  And  now  I'll  take  you  back  to  be  scolded  for 
running  away  from  your  own  friends  for  so  long.  I'm 
dining  with  Mother  to-morrow.  Shall  I  see  you?" 

"Oh,  yes — if  Mother  lets  me  come  down!"  fluttered 
Nina.  "But,  no — we're  to  be  at  Granny's!"  she  re- 
membered. 

"Soon,  then!"  He  left  her  in  the  circling  group,  but 
all  the  world  saw  him  kiss  her  hand.  Nina  wandered 
about  in  a  daze  of  pleasure  and  satisfaction  for  another 
half-hour,  paying  attentions  to  Mother's  poky  friends 
with  a  sparkle  and  charm  that  amazed  them.  Pres- 
ently Ward  and  the  demure  Amy  Hawkes  found  her; 
the  car  was  waiting.  Miss  Field,  Ward  said,  was  no 
longer  at  the  tea  table;  she  had  left  a  message  to  the 
effect  that  she  was  walking  home  and  would  be  there 
as  soon  as  they  were. 


HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER  53 

He  asked  Amy  and  Nina,  whose  irrepressible  gossip 
and  giggling  met  with  only  silence  and  scowls  from  his 
superior  altitude,  if  they  knew  why  Miss  Harriet  had 
decided  to  walk.  They  stared  at  each  other  innocently, 
on  the  brink  of  fresh  laughter.  No;  they  hadn't  the 
least  idea. 


CHAPTER  IV 

ROYAL  BLONDIN  went  straight  from  Nina  to  the  tea 
table,  which  was  almost  deserted  now.  Harriet  saw 
him  coming,  and  she  knew  what  hour  had  come.  She 
stood  up  as  he  reached  her,  and  they  measured  each 
other  narrowly,  with  unsmiling  eyes. 

There  was  reason  for  her  paleness  to-day,  and  for  the 
faint  violet  shadows  about  her  beautiful  eyes.  Harriet 
had  lain  awake  deep  into  the  night,  tossing  and  feverish. 
She  had  gotten  up  more  than  once,  for  a  drink  of  water, 
for  a  look  from  her  balcony  at  the  solemn  summer 
stars.  And  among  all  the  troubled  images  and  memo- 
ries that  had  trooped  and  circled  in  sick  confusion 
through  her  brain,  the  figure  of  this  smiling,  handsome 
man  had  predominated. 

She  had  always  thought  that  he  must  come  back; 
for  years  the  fear  had  haunted  her  at  every  street  cross- 
ing, at  every  ring  of  Linda's  doorbell.  At  first  it  had 
been  but  a  shivering  apprehension  of  his  claims,  an 
anticipation  of  what  he  might  expect  or  want  from  her. 
Then  came  a  saner  time,  when  she  told  herself  that  she 
was  an  independent  human  being  as  well  as  he,  that  she 
might  meet  his  argument  with  argument,  and  his  threat 
with  threat. 

But  for  the  past  year  or  two  her  lessening  thoughts  of 
him  had  taken  new  form.  Harriet  had  hoped  that  when 
they  met  again  she  might  be  in  a  position  to  punish 

M 


HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER  55 

Royal  Blondin,  to  look,  down  at  him  from  heights  that 
even  his  audacity  might  not  scale. 

That  time,  she  told  herself  in  the  fever  of  the  night, 
had  not  yet  come.  Her  pitiful  achievements,  her 
beauty,  her  French  and  Spanish,  her  sober  book  reading, 
and  her  little  affectations  of  fine  linen  and  careful 
speech,  all  seemed  to  crumple  to  nothing.  She  seemed 
again  to  be  the  furious,  helpless,  seventeen-year-old 
Harriet  of  the  Watertown  days,  her  armour  ineffectual 
against  that  suave  and  self-confident  presence. 

"Oh,  how  I  hate  him!"  whispered  the  dry  lips  in  the 
silence  of  the  night.  And  looking  up  at  the  wheeling 
grave  procession  of  powdery  jewels  against  the  velvet 
of  the  sky,  Harriet  had  mused  on  escape,  on  a  disap- 
pearance as  complete  as  her  flight  years  ago  had  proved 
to  be. 

She  had  forced  herself  to  unbind  the  wrappings,  to 
look  at  the  old  wound.  She  had  gone  in  spirit  to  that 
old,  shabby  parlour  to  which  Linda  and  Fred  had  carried 
Josephine's  crib  late  every  night,  and  where  sheet 
music  had  cascaded  from  the  upright  piano.  She 
saw,  with  the  young  husband  and  wife,  a  fiery,  tumble- 
head  girl  of  fifteen  or  sixteen,  who  helped  with  her 
sister's  cooking  and  housework,  who  adored  the  baby, 
who  planned  a  future  on  the  stage,  or  as  a  great  painter, 
or  as  a  great  writer — the  means  mattered  not  so 
that  the  end  was  fame  and  wealth  and  happiness  for 
Harriet. 

Fred  had  brought  Royal  Blondin  in  to  supper  one 
night,  and  Royal  had  laughed  with  the  others  at  the 
spirited  little  waitress  who  delivered  herself  of  tremen- 
dous decisions  while  she  came  and  went  with  plates,  and 


56  HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER 

forgot  to  take  off  her  checked  blue  apron  when  she 
finally  slipped  into  her  place. 

The  man  had  been  a  derelict  then,  as  now.  But  he  was 
nine  years  older  than  Harriet  Field.  He  had  had  the 
same  delightful  voice,  the  same  penetrating  eyes.  He  had 
brought  poetry,  music,  art,  into  the  sordid  little  parlour 
of  the  Watertown  apartment;  he  had  helped  Harriet 
to  tame  and  house  those  soaring  ambitions.  Seated  on 
Linda's  stiff  little  fringed  sofa,  they  had  drunk  deep  of 
Keats  and  Shelley  and  Browning,  and  Harriet's  eyes 
had  widened  at  what  Royal  called  "world  ethics." 
To  live — that  was  the  gift  of  the  gods!  Not  to  be 
afraid — not  to  be  bound! 

Reaching  this  point  in  her  recollections,  the  girl  re- 
called herself  with  a  start.  She  was  safe  in  luxurious 
Crownlands,  it  had  all  been  years  ago.  But  again  the 
abyss  seemed  to  yawn  at  her  feet.  She  felt  again  those 
kisses  that  had  waked  the  little-girl  heart  into  passion- 
ate womanhood;  she  shut  her  eyes  and  pressed  her 
hand  tight  against  them.  So  young — so  happy — so 
confident! — plunging  headlong  into  that  searing  black- 
ness. 

And  now  Royal  Blondin  was  back  again,  and  she  was 
not  ready  for  him.  She  could  not  score  now.  But  he 
could  hurt  her  irreparably  if  he  would.  Isabelle  was 
an  indifferent  mother,  and  an  incorrigible  flirt,  but  at 
the  first  word,  at  the  first  hint — ah,  there  would  be  no 
arguing,  no  weighing  of  the  old  blame  and  responsibility! 
If  there  was  the  faintest  cloud  of  doubt,  that  would 
be  enough!  Better  the  driest  and  fussiest  old  French- 
woman for  Nina,  the  dullest  and  least  responsive  of 
Englishwomen.  But  by  all  means  settle  accounts  at 


HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER  57 

once  with  Miss  Field,  and  pay  her  railway  fare,  and 
wish  her  well. 

Harriet  had  shaken  back  her  mane  of  hair,  had  ham- 
mered furious  fists  together  up  on  the  dark  balcony. 
It  wasn't  fair — it  wasn't  fair — just  now,  when  she  was 
so  secure  and  happy!  She  had  flung  her  arms  across 
the  railing,  and  buried  her  hot  face  on  them,  and  had 
wept  desperate  and  angry  tears  into  the  silken  and 
golden  tangle  that  shone  dully  in  the  starlight. 

The  stars  were  paling,  and  the  garden  stirred  with  the 
first  languid  breath  of  the  hot  day  to  come,  when  she 
suddenly  rose  and  bound  up  the  loosened  hair,  and 
went  in.  Harriet  was  not  yet  twenty-seven,  and  every 
fibre  of  her  being  cried  out  for  sleep.  Cold  water  on 
the  tear-stained  face,  and  the  childish  prayer  she  never 
forgot,  and  she  had  crept  gratefully  into  the  soft  covers, 
and  had  had  perhaps  four  hours  of  such  rest  as  only 
comes  to  youth. 

So  that  the  morning  brought  courage.  Her  heart 
was  heavy  and  fearful,  but  she  knew  that  Royal  would 
seek  her,  and  she  hoped  much  for  the  talk  that  they  were 
to  have  now.  She  did  not  refuse  him  her  hand  when 
he  came  to  the  tea  table,  or  her  eyes,  and  there  was 
friendliness,  or  the  semblance  of  it,  in  the  voice  with 
which  she  said  his  name.  That  he  was  waiting,  per- 
haps as  fearfully  as  she,  for  his  cue,  was  evidenced  by 
the  quick  relief  with  which  he  echoed  the  old  familiarity. 

"Harriet!  I  find  you  again.  I've  been  waiting  all 
this  time  to  find  you!  I'd  heard  Ward  speak  of  'Miss 
Field ',  of  course !  But  it  never  meant  you,  to  me.  I've 
been  thinking  of  you  all  night." 

"I've  been  thinking,  too,"  she  said,  simply. 


58  HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER 

"It's  after  six,"  Blondin  said  with  a  glance  about. 
"We  can't  talk  here.  Can  you  get  away?  Can  we  go 
somewhere?" 

Without  another  word  she  deserted  her  seat,  pinned 
on  her  hat,  and  picked  up  her  gloves. 

"There's  a  very  quiet  back  road  straight  to  Crown- 
lands,"  she  said,  considering.  "We  might  walk." 

"Anything!"  he  assented,  briefly. 

Guided  by  Harriet,  who  was  familiar  with  the  place, 
they  slipped  through  the  hallway,  and  out  a  side  door, 
crossing  the  lane  that  led  down  to  the  garage,  and  strik- 
ing into  a  splendid  old  quiet  roadway  barred  now  by 
the  shadows  of  elms  and  sycamores  and  maples,  and 
filled  with  soft  green  lights  from  the  thick  arch  of 
new  leaves.  They  had  no  sooner  gained  the  silence 
and  solitude  it  afforded  them  than  the  man  began 
deliberately: 

"Harriet,  I've  not  thought  of  anything  else  since  I 
came  upon  you  yesterday,  after  all  these  years.  I  want 
you  to  tell  me  that  you — you  aren't  angry  with  me." 

There  was  a  moment  of  silence.  Then  the  girl  said, 
quietly: 

"No.     I'm  not  angry,  Roy." 

"You  knew — you  knew  how  desperately  I  tried  to 
find  you,  Harriet?  What  a  hell  I  went  through?" 

If  she  had  steeled  herself  against  the  possibility  of 
his  shaking  her,  she  failed  herself  now.  It  was  with  an 
involuntary  and  bitter  little  laugh  that  she  said: 

"You  had  no  monopoly  of  that,  Roy." 

"But  you  ran  away  from  me!"  he  accused  her. 
"When  I  went  to  find  you,  they  told  me  the  Davenports 
had  moved  away.  Won't  you  believe  that  I  felt 


HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER  59 

terribly — that  I  walked  the  streets,  Harriet,  praying — 
praying! — that  I  might  catch  a  glimpse  of  you.  It  was 
the  uppermost  thought  for  years — how  many  years? 
Seven?" 

"More  than  eight,"  she  corrected,  in  a  somewhat  life- 
less voice.  "I  was  eighteen.  My  one  thought,  my  one 
hope,  when  I  last  saw  you,  in  Linda's  house,"  she  went 
on,  with  sudden  passion,  "was  that  I  would  never  see 
you  again!  But  I'm  glad  to  hear  you  say  this,  Roy," 
she  added,  in  a  gentler  tone.  "I'm  glad  you — felt 
sorry.  Our  going  away  was  a  mere  chance.  Fred 
Davenport  was  offered  a  position  on  a  Brooklyn  paper, 
and  we  all  moved  from  Watertown  to  Brooklyn.  I 
was  grateful  for  it;  I  only  wanted  to  disappear!  Linda 
stood  by  me,  her  children  saved  my  life.  I  was  a 
nursery-maid  for  a  year  or  two — I  never  saw  anybody, 
or  went  anywhere!  I  think  Linda's  friends  thought  her 
sister  was  queer,  melancholy,  or  weakminded — God 
knows  I  was,  too!  I  look  back,"  Harriet  said,  talking 
more  to  herself  than  to  him,  and  walking  swiftly  along 
in  the  golden  sunset  light  that  streamed  across  the  old 
back  road,  "and  I  wonder  I  didn't  go  stark,  staring  mad! 
Strange  streets,  strange  houses,  and  myself  wheeling 
Pip  Davenport  about  the  curbs  and  past  the  little 
shops!" 

"Don't  think  about  it,"  he  urged,  with  concern. 

"No;  I'll  not  think  about  it.  Royal,  don't  think  that 
all  my  feeling  was  for  myself.  I  thought  of  you,  too. 
I  missed  you.  Truly,  I  missed  what  you  had  given 
my  life!" 

A  dark  flush  came  to  the  man's  face,  and  when  he 
spoke  it  was  with  an  honest  shame  and  gratitude  in  his 


60  HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER 

voice  that  would  have  surprised  the  women  who  had 
only  known  him  in  his  later  years. 

"You  are  generous,  Harriet,"  he  said.  "You  were 
always  the  most  generous  girl  in  the  world!" 

More  stirred  than  she  wished  to  show  herself,  Harriet 
walked  on,  and  there  was  a  silence. 

"I  hunted  for  you,"  Royal  said  presently.  "For 
months  it  seemed  to  me  that  we  must  meet,  that  we 
must  talk!  I  came  back  from  Canada  in  August,  I 
went  to  the  house;  it  was  taken  by  strangers.  I  went 
to  Fred's  paper;  he  had  been  gone  for  months!" 

"I  know!"  Harriet  nodded.  The  wonderful  smoky 
blue  eyes  met  his  for  a  second,  and  there  was  something 
of  sympathy  now  in  their  look.  "I  know,  Roy!  It 
was,"  she  shuddered,  "it  was  a  wretched  business,  all 
round!" 

"Linda  and  Fred  made  it  hard  for  you?"  he  asked. 

"Oh,  no!  They  were  angels.  But  of  course  in  their 
eyes,  and  mine,  too — I  was  marked." 

Silence.  Royal  Blondin  gave  her  a  glance  full  of  dis- 
tress and  compunction.  But  he  did  not  speak,  and  it 
was  Harriet  who  ended  the  pause. 

"Well,  that's  what  a  little  girl  of  eighteen  may  do 
with  her  life!"  she  said.  "I  have  been  a  fool — I  have 
made  a  wreck  of  mine!  Ambition  and  youth  went  out 
of  me  then.  It  wasn't  anything  actual,  Roy.  But 
I  have  known  a  hundred  times  why  when  I  should 
have  courage  I  had  nothing  but  fear,  when  I  should  have 
self-confidence  I  failed  myself.  Something  in  my  soul 
got  broken!" 

"You  are  the  most  beautiful  woman  in  the  world," 
Royal  Blondin  said,  steadily,  "you  are  established  here, 


HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER  61 

they  all  adore  you!  Why  do  you  say  that  your  life  is  a 
wreck?" 

"I  am  the  daughter  of  Professor  Field,"  said  Harriet, 
"and  at  twenty-seven  I  am  the  paid  companion  of  Mrs. 
Richard  Carter's  daughter!  Oh,  well — I  was  happy 
enough  to  have  the  opportunity.  I  had  studied  French, 
you  know;  and  Mrs.  Rogers  took  me  abroad  with  her. 
She  was  an  outrageous  old  lady,  but  not  curious!  No 
reasonable  woman  could  live  with  her — I  made  myself 
endure  it.  Then  I  went  to  her  daughter,  Mrs.  Igle- 
heart,  the  famous  suffragette,  for  two  years.  And  the 
Carters  took  me  from  her."  She  shrugged  indifferently. 
"What  of  yourself?  Where  have  you  been?" 

But  he  was  not  quite  ready  to  drop  the  personal  note. 

"Harriet,  now  that  we  have  met,  we'll  be  friends? 
My  life  now  is  among  these  people ;  you'll  not  be  sorry 
if  we  occasionally  meet?" 

"In  this  casual  way — no,  we  can  stand  that!"  she 
agreed.  The  fears  of  the  night  rose  like  mist,  melted 
away.  It  was  bad  enough,  but  it  was  not  what  her  in- 
flamed and  fantastic  apprehension  had  made  it.  He  was 
no  revengeful  villain,  after  all.  He  did  not  mean  to 
harm  her. 

"I've  been  everywhere,"  he  said,  answering  her 
question.  "I  made  two  trips  to  China  from  San 
Francisco.  I  was  interested  in  Chinese  antiques.  Then 
I  went  into  a  Persian  rug  thing,  with  a  dealer.  We 
handled  rugs;  I  went  all  over  the  Union.  After  that, 
four  years  ago,  I  went  to  Persia  and  into  India,  and  met 
some  English  people,  and  went  with  them  to  London. 
Then  I  came  back  here,  as  a  sort  of  press  agent  to  a 
Swami  who  wanted  to  be  introduced  in  America,  and 


62  HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER 

after  he  left  I  rather  took  up  his  work,  Yogi  and  inter- 
pretive reading,  'Chitra'  and  'Shojo' — you  don't  know 
them?" 

She  shook  her  head,  sufficiently  at  ease  now  even  to 
smile  in  faint  derision. 

"They  eat  it  up,  I  assure  you!"  Royal  Blondin  said, 
in  self-defence. 

"Oh,  I  know  they  do!"  Harriet  agreed.  "I've  been 
hearing  a  great  deal  about  you  lately!  You  have  a 
studio?" 

"I  have — really! — the  prettiest  studio  in  New  York. 
I  rented  my  London  rooms,  with  my  furniture  in  them, 
and  I  have  a  little  apartment  in  Paris,  too,  that  I  rent." 

"And  what's  the  future  in  it,  Roy?"  Now  that  the 
black  dread  was  laid,  she  could  almost  like  him. 

"The  present  is  extremely  profitable,"  he  said,  drily, 
"and  I  suppose  there  might  be — well,  say  a  marriage 
in  it,  some  day " 

"A  rich  widow?"  Harriet  suggested,  simply. 

"Or  a  little  girl  with  a  fortune,  like  this  little  Carter 
girl,"  he  added,  lightly. 

Harriet  gave  him  a  swift  look. 

"Don't  talk  nonsense!     Nina's  only  a  child!" 

"She's  almost  eighteen,  isn't  she?" 

The  girl  walked  swiftly  on  for  a  full  minute. 

"How  do  you  happen  to  know  that?" 

"Is  it  a  secret?" 

The  possibility  he  hinted,  however  remote,  was 
enough  to  stop  her  short,  actually  and  mentally.  Con- 
sidering, she  stood  still,  with  a  face  of  distaste. 

The  hush  before  sunset  flooded  the  quiet  road.  A 
bird  called  plaintively  from  some  low  bush,  was  still, 


HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER  63 

and  called  again.  From  the  river  came  the  muffled, 
mellow  note  of  a  boat  horn.  Two  ponies  looked  over 
the  brick  wall,  shook  their  tawny  heads,  and  galloped 
to  the  field  with  a  joyous  affectation  of  terror.  Nina! 
By  what  fantastic  turn  of  the  cards  was  Royal  Blondin 
to  be  connected  in  her  thoughts,  after  all  these  years, 
with  Nina? 

She  looked  at  Blondin,  who  was  watching  her  with  a 
half-sulky,  half-ingratiating  air. 

"My  dear  girl,  that  was  merely  an  idle  remark!"  he 
said. 

"Well,  I  hope  so,"  Harriet  said,  going  on,  "anyway, 
she's  a  child!" 

"You  weren't — quite — a  child,  at  eighteen,"  he  re- 
minded her. 

The  colour  flooded  her  transparent  dusky  skin. 

"That's — exactly — what  I  was!"  she  said,  drily. 
"But  talk  to  Nina,  if  you  don't  believe  me!  Every- 
thing that  is  school-girly  and  romantic  and  undeveloped, 
is  Nina.  If  you  held  her  coat  for  her,  she  would  em- 
broider the  circumstance  into  something  significant  and 
flattering!  She  is  absolutely  inexperienced;  she's  what 
I  called  her,  a  child!" 

"I've  been  talking  to  her,"  Blondin  said.  His  com- 
pa'nion  looked  at  him  sharply,  and  after  a  second  he 
laughed.  "There  is  just  one  chance  in  the  world  that 
I  might  make  that  little  girl  extremely  happy!"  he  said. 

"Don't  talk  nonsense!"  Harriet  said  again,  im- 
patiently. 

"Is  it  nonsense?"  he  asked,  smiling. 

"  It's — preposterous ! " 

"I   suppose,"   the   man   drawled,    "that   that   is  a 


64  HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER 

question  for  the  young  lady,  and  her  parents,  and  my- 
self, to  decide." 

"You  suppose  nothing  of  the  sort!"  Harriet  said, 
sensibly,  without  wasting  a  glance  upon  him.  And 
she  added  in  scorn,  "I  doubt  very  much  if  it's  possible!" 

"Very  probably  it  isn't,"  he  conceded,  amiably.  "I 
seem  middle-aged  to  her.  I— 

"You  are  thirty-eight,"  Harriet  said. 

"  Exactly !  But — don't  forget ! — I  shall  have  the  field 
to  myself.  The  mother  won't  interfere.  Of  the  grand- 
mother I  have  my  doubts,  but  if  the  father  is  like  the  usual 
American  male  parent,  he  will  give  the  girl  her  head!" 

Harriet  bit  her  lip.  This  was  utterly  unexpected. 
Into  her  calculations,  up  to  this  point,  she  had  taken 
only  Royal  Blondin  and  herself.  If  this  casual  hint 
covered  any  truth,  then  the  matter  did  not  stop  there. 
Nina  was  involved,  and  with  Nina,  Ward  and  Nina's 
father  and  Isabelle — 

The  complications  were  endless;  her  heart  sickened 
before  them.  For  she  read  Nina's  susceptible  vanity 
as  truly  as  he,  and  she  knew  besides,  what  he  did  not 
know,  that  the  formidable-appearing  grandmother  was 
secretly  a  little  piqued  at  Nina's  lack  of  masculine  at- 
tention, and  would  probably  further  any  romantic 
absurdity  on  the  girl's  part  with  all  her  determined  old 
soul.  Nina  adored  at  eighteen  by  the  much-talked-of 
poet;  Nina,  young  and  gauche  perhaps,  but  married, 
and  entertaining  guests  in  her  husband's  studio,  would 
be  a  Nina  far  more  satisfying  to  her  grandmother  than 
the  bread-and-butter  Nina  of  to-day. 

And  yet,  the  conviction  that  Royal  dared  not  betray 
her  had  been  flooding  Harriet's  heart  with  exquisite 


HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER  65 

reassurance  during  this  past  half  hour.  She  was  safe; 
her  life  at  Crownlands  took  on  a  new  and  wonderful 
beauty  with  that  knowledge.  And  if  she  was  fit  to  con- 
tinue there,  Nina's  companion,  Isabelle's  confidante, 
guide  and  judge  for  the  whole  household,  could  she  with 
any  logic  warn  them  against  this  man? 

He  had  her  trapped,  and  she  saw  it.  If  she  was  to 
have  her  safety,  as  all  this  talk  implied,  then  she  must 
give  him  the  same  tacit  assurance.  To  threaten  his 
standing  was  to  wreck  her  own. 

"Don't  make  a  tragedy  of  it,"  Royal,  watching  her 
narrowly,  interrupted  her  thoughts  to  say  lightly. 
"The  girl  will  marry  where  she  pleases.  She  makes  her 
own  choice.  If  I  can  make  the  right  impression  on  her 
and  convince  her  father  and  mother  that  I  am  fit  for  her, 
why,  it  isn't  your  affair!" 

"Isn't  it?"  Harriet  whispered  the  question,  as  if  to 
herself.  Her  eyes  looked  beyond  him  darkly;  the  girl 
was  young  and  innocent,  greedy  for  flattery,  eager  to 
live.  What  chance  had  little  Nina  Carter  against 
charm  like  his — experience  like  his  ?  Harriet  wondered 
if  she  could  look  dispassionately  on  while  Nina  dimpled 
and  flushed  over  her  love  affair,  while  gowns  were  made 
and  presents  unpacked.  Could  she  help  to  pin  a  veil 
over  that  stupid  little  head;  could  she  wave  good-bye  to 
Royal  Blondin  and  his  girl  wife;  could  she  picture  the 
room  where  Nina's  ignorance  that  night  must  face  his 
sophistication,  his  passion,  his  coarseness? 

They  had  come  to  the  particular  lane  that  led  to 
Crownlands  now,  and  she  stood  still  by  the  ivy-covered 
brick  wall,  her  face  dark  and  sober  with  thought  in  the 
soft,  clear  twilight. 


66  HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER 

"There  won't  be  any  kidnapping  or  chloroform  about 
it!"  Royal  reminded  her. 

"No — I  know!"  she  answered,  with  a  swift  glance  of 
pain.  "But- 

But  what?  The  alternative  was  Linda's  house,  at 
twenty-seven  instead  of  seventeen,  and  with  the  vague 
cloud  over  her  even  more  definite  than  before.  Harriet 
winced.  Nina,  whispered  her  mind,  was  far  less  ig- 
norant than  Harriet  had  been  at  her  age. 

"Life — the  truths  of  life,"  Royal  said,  as  if  he  read 
her  thought,  "may  not  be  to  everyone  what  they— 
might  be — might  have  been — to  you!"  The  colour 
rushed  to  her  face. 

"Please,  Roy—  — !"  she  said,  suffocated. 

"I  may  never  be  asked  to  the  house  after  to-morrow 
night,"  said  Blondin,  after  a  pause,  realizing  that  he  was 
gaining  ground.  "She  won't  be  here  to-morrow  night. 
This  may  be  the  beginning  and  end  of  it.  All  I  ask  is 
that  if  I  am  made  welcome  here,  on  my  own  merits,  you 
won't  interfere!  The  mere  fact  that  you're  living  here 
doesn't  mean  that  you  have  the  moral  responsibility  of 
the  family  on  your  shoulders,  does  it  ?  Does  it  ? " 

"No-o,"  Harriet  admitted,  in  a  troubled  tone. 

"Of  course  not!  You  live  your  life,  and  I  mine.  Is 
there  anything  wrong  about  that  ? " 

He  looked  down  with  quiet  triumph  at  the  exquisite 
face,  never  more  beautiful  than  in  this  soft  light,  against 
the  setting  of  maples  and  brick  wall. 

"You  know  you  would  never  look  at  that  girl  except 
for  her  money,  Roy!"  she  burst  out. 

"Nor  would  any  one  else!"  he  amended,  suavely. 

Harriet  gave  a  distressed  laugh. 


HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER  67 

"Come!  You  and  I  never  saw  each  other  until  this 
week,"  Blondin  urged.  "That's  the  whole  story." 

Before  she  answered,  the  girl  looked  beyond  him  at 
the  splendid  stables  and  lawns  of  Crownlands.  One  of 
the  great  cars  was  in  the  garage  doorway,  its  lamps 
winking  like  eyes  in  the  dusk.  An  old  gardener  was 
utilizing  the  last  of  the  daylight,  his  back  bent  over  a 
green  box  border.  Beyond,  lights  showed  in  the  side 
windows  of  the  great  house.  Harriet  could  see  pinkish 
colour  up  at  her  own  porch;  Nina  was  at  home,  or  Rosa 
was  turning  down  the  beds  and  making  everything 
orderly  for  the  night.  She  had  a  swift  vision  of  the 
great  hallways,  the  flowers,  the  silent,  unobtrusive 
service;  of  Ward  and  his  friends  racketing  upstairs;  the 
old  lady  majestically  descending;  of  Isabelle  at  her 
mirror.  Richard  Carter  would  come  quietly  down, 
groomed  and  keen-eyed;  he  would  glance  at  his  mail, 
perhaps  saunter  out  to  the  wide  porch  for  a  chat  with 
his  mother  before  dinner  was  announced. 

It  had  never  lost  its  charm  for  her,  her  castle  of 
dreams;  she  had  longed  to  be  part  of  just  such  a  house- 
hold all  her  life !  Now  she  actually  was  part  of  it,  and — 
if  what  Mary  Putnam  had  hinted  was  true,  if  her  own 
fleeting  suspicion  only  a  few  evenings  ago  was  true; 
then  she  might  some  day  really  belong  to  Crownlands, 
in  good  earnest! 

After  all,  Nina  was  bound  for  some  sort  of  indiscre- 
tion; nobody  could  save  her  that!  Even  if  there  was 
any  probability  that  Royal  could  carry  out  his  plan. 

Harriet  made  her  choice. 

"Very  well,"  she  said,  briefly.  "I  understand  you. 
I  turn  in  here.  Good-night!" 


68  HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER 

"Just  a  second!"  he  said,  detaining  her.  "You 
won't  hurt  me  with  any  of  them,  Ward  or  the  girl,  or  the 
father?" 

The  girl's  lips  curled  with  distaste. 

"No,"  she  said,  tonelessly. 

"The  look  implies  that  you  despise  me!"  Royal  said, 
smiling. 

"Oh,  not  you .'"  she  said,  in  a  tone  of  self-contempt. 
And  in  another  second  she  was  gone.  He  saw  the 
slender  figure,  in  its  green  gown,  disappear  at  a  turning 
of  the  ivied  wall.  She  paused  for  no  backward  glance 
of  farewell.  But  Royal  Blondin  was  satisfied. 


CHAPTER  V 

AGAIN  Harriet  fled  through  the  quiet  house  as  if 
pursued  by  furies,  and  again  reached  her  room  with  white 
cheeks  and  a  fast-beating  heart.  Nina  was  not  there. 
She  crossed  to  the  window,  and  stood  there  with  her 
hands  clasped  on  her  chest,  and  her  breath  coming  and 
going  stormily. 

"Oh,  he's  clever!"  she  whispered,  half  aloud.  "He's 
clever!  He  never  made  a  threat.  He  never  made  a 
threat  of  any  kind !  He  knew  that  he  had  me — he  knew 
that  he  had  me  just  where  he  wanted  me!"  And  look- 
ing down  toward  the  lane,  invisible  now  behind  the 
trees  and  stables,  in  the  gathering  dusk,  she  added 
scornfully,  "You're  clever,  Roy.  I  wonder  if  there's 
anything  you  wouldn't  do,  if  it  made  for  your  own  com- 
fort or  brought  you  in  money! 

"But,  at  all  events,"  summarized  Harriet,  quieting  a 
little  under  the  soothing  influence  of  solitude  and  safety, 
"I'm  out  of  it !  He  won't  touch  me.  And  what  he  does 
here,  in  making  his  way  with  this  family,  doesn't  con- 
cern me!  Nina  is  old  enough  to  decide  for  herself — I 
had  my  own  living  to  make  at  her  age,  and  no  father  to 
write  me  checks  for  my  birthdays,  and  no  Uncle  Ed- 
ward to  die  and  leave  me  a  hundred  and  fifty  thousand 
dollars!" 

She  mused  about  the  little  fortune,  left  most  un- 
expectedly five  years  before  to  Nina  and  Ward  by  an 


70  HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER 

uncle  of  their  mother.  Edward  Potter  had  been  a 
bachelor,  had  been  young  when  an  accident  flung  him 
out  of  life,  and  made  his  niece's  children,  the  twelve- 
year-old  Nina,  and  Ward  at  sixteen,  his  heirs.  The 
expectation  had  been  that  he  would  marry,  that  sons 
and  daughters  of  his  own  would  disinherit  the  young 
Carters.  But  his  affianced  wife  had  married  someone 
else,  after  awhile,  and  the  fortune  had  gone  on  accumu- 
lating for  Ward  and  for  the  girl  whose  eighteenth  birth- 
day was  only  a  few  months  off  now.  Harriet  wondered 
if  Royal  Blondin  knew  about  it.  Of  course  he  knew 
about  it!  Harriet  had  seen  a  check  for  one  million 
dollars  exhibited,  under  glass,  among  the  wedding  gifts 
of  one  twenty-year-old  girl  a  few  months  ago.  She  did 
not  suppose  that  Richard  Carter  would  do  that  for  his 
daughter,  even  if  he  could.  But  he  would  probably 
double  Uncle  Edward's  legacy,  and  the  bride  would 
begin  her  new  life  with  a  fortune  that  was  no  con- 
temptible fraction  of  a  million. 

"And  I  am  worrying  about  my  responsibility  to 
poor,  dear  little  Nina!"  the  girl  said  to  herself,  with  a 
rather  mirthless  laugh,  as  Nina  herself  came  into  the 
room. 

Nina  had  been  experiencing  what  were  among  the 
pleasantest  hours  of  her  life.  A  school  friend,  Amy 
Hawkes,  had  come  back  with  her  from  Francesca  Jay's 
tea,  and  the  two  had  been  prettily  invited  by  Isabelle 
to  join  the  family  downstairs  at  dinner.  Coming  at 
this  particular  moment,  it  had  seemed  to  Nina  that  she 
was  emerging  from  the  chrysalis  indeed. 

But  more  than  that.  Amy,  who  was  romance  per- 
sonified, under  a  plain  and  demure  exterior,  had  ob- 


HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER  71 

served  Nina's  long  conversation  with  Royal  Blondin, 
and  had  found  an  arch  allusion  to  it  so  well  received  by 
Nina  that  she  had  followed  up  that  line  of  conversation, 
almost  without  variation,  ever  since.  By  this  time  the 
girls  had  confided  to  each  other,  over  a  box  of  chocolates 
in  the  deep  chairs  of  the  morning  room,  everything  of  a 
sentimental  nature  that  had  ever  happened  to  them  in 
their  lives,  and  much  that  had  not.  Amy  was  con- 
vinced that  Mr.  Blondin  was  just  desperately  in  earnest, 
and  that,  for  the  sake  of  other  aspirants,  Nina  ought  not 
to  trifle  with  him,  and  Nina,  with  blazing  cheeks  and 
tumbled  hair,  was  assuming  rapidly  the  airs  of  a  sad 
coquette. 

Amy  was  to  sleep  with  Nina,  and  Harriet  realized,  as 
she  superintended  their  fluttered  dressing,  that  she, 
Harriet,  would  be  obliged  to  go  to  their  door  five  times, 
between  eleven  and  one  o'clock  that  night,  and  tell  them 
that  they  must  stop  talking.  With  the  grave  manner 
that  always  impressed  young  girls,  and  with  a  somewhat 
serious  face,  she  was  busying  herself  with  their  frills  and 
ribbons,  when  from  the  bathroom,  wrhere  Amy  was 
drawing  on  silk  stockings,  and  Nina  had  her  tooth- 
brush in  her  mouth,  she  was  electrified  by  a  chance 
scrap  of  their  conversation. 

"If  I  do  mention  it  to  Mother,"  said  Nina,  rather 
thickly,  "she  will  only  scold  me!  A  man  of  his  age — 
she'd  be  furious!" 

"And  don't  you  think  you  deserve  to  be  scolded?" 
said  Amy,  in  a  delightfully  rebuking  undertone.  "My 
dear — he  must  be  in  the  thirties!" 

"No,  I  don't,  Amy!"  Nina  protested,  in  a  tone  of 
great  honesty  and  innocence.  "I  can't  help  being  like 


72 

that.  If  I  don't  like  a  man,  why,  I  have  nothing  to  say 
to  him!  If  I  do,  why — his  age — nothing — matters!" 

She  hesitated,  and  laughed  a  little  laugh  of  pure 
pleasure. 

"You  flirt!"    Amy  said. 

"Truly,  honestly "  Nina  was  beginning,  when  both 

girls  were  smitten  into  panicky  silence  by  the  sound  of 
the  slipper  Harriet  deliberately  dropped  on  the  floor. 
Nina  noiselessly  bent  her  stocky  young  body  far  for- 
ward, to  look  through  the  crack  of  the  bathroom  door. 
Harriet  went  on  quietly  spreading  the  youthful  dinner 
dresses  on  Nina's  bed,  snapped  up  a  dressing-table  light, 
went  on  into  her  own  room.  But  she  had  been  taken 
far  more  by  surprise  herself,  if  they  had  only  known  it, 
than  had  Amy  and  Nina.  Could  Royal  possibly  have 
been  the  subject  of  their  confidences?  Could  he  have 
made  such  progress  in  a  single  afternoon?  Knowing 
Royal,  and  knowing  Nina,  she  was  obliged  to  confess  it 
possible. 

While  she  stood  pondering,  in  her  own  beautiful 
room,  there  was  a  modest  knock  at  the  door,  and  Rosa 
came  in  with  a  box.  She  smiled,  and  put  it  on  Harriet's 
desk. 

"For  me?"  the  girl  said,  smiling  in  answer,  and  with 
some  surprise.  Rosa  nodded,  and  went  her  way,  and 
Harriet  went  to  the  box.  It  was  not  large,  a  florist's 
box  of  dark  green  cardboard;  Harriet  untied  the  raffia 
string,  and  investigated  the  mass  of  silky  tissue  paper. 
Inside  was  an  orchid. 

She  took  it  out,  a  delicate  cluster  of  flaky  blossoms, 
poised  carelessly,  like  little  white  hearts,  on  the  limp 
stem.  She  opened  the  accompanying  envelope,  and 


HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER  73 

found  Ward's  card.  On  the  back  he  had  written, 
"Just  a  little  worried  because  he's  afraid  you're  cross  at 
him!" 

Harriet  stood  perfectly  still,  the  orchid  in  one  hand, 
the  card  crushed  in  the  other.  Ward  Carter  had  sent 
orchids,  no  doubt,  to  other  girls.  But  Harriet  Carter 
had  never  had  an  orchid  before  from  a  man. 

She  put  the  card  into  her  little  desk,  and  the  orchid 
into  a  slender  crystal  vase.  Then  she  went  back  to 
advise  Amy  and  Nina  as  to  gold  beads  and  the  ar- 
rangement of  hair.  But  a  little  later,  when  she  was  in 
the  big  housekeeper's  pantry,  where  several  maids  were 
busy  with  last-minute  manipulations  of  olives  and  ice 
and  grapefruit,  Ward  came  out  and  found  her,  soberly 
busy  in  her  old  checked  silk. 

"Why  didn't  you  wear  it?" 

"Wear  it — you  bad,  extravagant  child!  I'll  wear  it 
to  town  to-morrow." 

"No;  but—  '  he  sank  his  tone  to  one  of  enjoyable 
confidences — "but  were  you  mad  at  me?" 

"Mad  at  you?  But  why  should  I  have  been?" 
Harriet  demanded. 

"Oh,  I  don't  know!  You  looked  so  glum  at  break- 
fast." 

"Well,  you  had  nothing  to  do  with  it!"  she  assured 
him,  in  her  big-sisterly  voice.  "And  it  was  the  first 
orchid  I  ever  had,  and  I  loved  you  for  it!" 

It  was  said  in  just  the  comradely,  half-amused  voice 
with  which  she  had  addressed  Ward  a  hundred  times  in 
the  past  year,  but  perhaps  the  boy  had  changed.  At  all 
events,  it  was  with  something  like  pain  and  impatience 
in  his  tone  that  he  said  gruffly: 


74  HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER 

"Yes,  you  do!  You  like  me  about  as  much  as  you 
like  Nina,  or  Granny!" 

"  I  like  you — sh !  just  a  little  better  than  I  do  Granny ! " 
Harriet  confided.  "  Don't  spoil  your  dinner  with  olives, 
Ward!  Don't  muss  that — there's  a  dear!  Dinner's 
announced,  by  the  way.  It's  quarter  past  eight." 

"I'm  going!"  he  grumbled,  discontentedly. 

"At  any  rate,  I  love  the  orchid!"  Harriet  said,  sooth- 
ingly. He  was  laughing  too,  as  he  disappeared,  but 
something  in  his  face  was  vaguely  troubling  to  her  none- 
the-less,  and  she  remembered  it  now  and  then  with  a 
little  compunction  during  her  quiet  evening  of  reading. 
She  was  tired  to-night,  excited  from  the  talk  with 
Blondin  that  afternoon,  and  by  the  general  confusion 
and  noise  of  the  household.  Ward — Nina — Royal — 
their  names  flitted  through  her  thoughts  even  when  she 
tried  to  read;  at  such  a  time  as  this  she  felt  as  if  the  life 
at  Crownlands  was  like  the  current  of  a  river  that 
moved  too  swiftly,  or  more  appropriately  perhaps,  like 
some  powerful  motor-car  whose  smooth,  swift  passage 
gave  its  occupants  small  chance  to  investigate  the 
country  through  which  they  fled.  Well,  she  would  see 
Linda  on  Saturday,  and  have  Sunday  with  her  and  the 
children,  and  that  meant  always  a  complete  change  and 
a  shifted  viewpoint,  even  when,  as  frequently  happened, 
Linda  took  the  older-sisterly  privilege  of  scolding. 


CHAPTER  VI 

LINDA,  who  had  been  Mrs.  Frederick  Davenport  for 
some  seventeen  years,  had  lived  for  the  last  ten  in  a 
quiet  New  Jersey  village.  The  house  for  which  she  and 
her  husband  paid  the  staggering  rent  of  forty  dollars  a 
month  had  proved  to  be  in  a  region  toward  which  the 
expected  tide  of  fashion  did  not  turn,  but  it  remained 
a  quiet  and  eminently  respectable  neighbourhood,  re- 
mained almost  unchanged,  in  fact,  and  Linda  was 
satisfied. 

When  Harriet  had  chaperoned  Nina  and  Amy  to  the 
Friday  afternoon  matinee,  and  had  duly  deposited  Amy 
afterward  in  the  Hawkes  mansion,  and  had  escorted 
Nina  to  her  grandmother's  apartment,  she  was  free  to 
direct  Hansen  to  drive  her  to  the  Jersey  tube,  and  to 
spend  a  hot,  uncomfortable  hour  in  a  stream  of  home- 
going  commuters,  on  the  way  to  Linda's  house.  She 
was  unexpected,  but  that  made  no  difference;  the 
Davenports  had  little  company,  and  they  were  always 
ready  to  welcome  the  beloved  sister  and  aunt. 

Linda's  home  was  a  shingled  brown  eight-room  house, 
built  in  the  first  years  of  the  century,  and  consequently 
showing  the  simplicity  and  spaciousness  that  were 
unknown  in  the  architecture  of  the  eighties.  It  was 
exactly  like  a  thousand  other  houses  here  in  the  Oranges, 
and  like  a  million  in  the  Union.  There  was  a  porch, 
with  a  half-glass  door  covered  by  a  wire  netting  door,, 

75 


76  HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER 

and  a  rusty  mail  box;  there  was  a  square  entrance  hall 
with  a  side  window  and  an  angled  stairway;  there  was  a 
kitchen  back  of  the  hall,  and  a  square  parlour  with  A 
green-tiled  mantel  to  the  left;  a  square  dining  room 
back  of  the  parlour,  with  a  window  at  the  back  and 
another  at  the  side.  The  side  window  gave  upon  the 
neighbouring  house,  a  duplicate  of  this  house,  forty  feet 
away,  and  the  back  window  commanded  an  oblong 
backyard  in  which  clotheslines  and  bean  poles  and  a 
dog  house,  and  a  small  vegetable  garden  protected  by 
collapsing  chicken  wire,  and  various  pails  and  buckets 
appertaining  to  the  kitchen,  all  had  place. 

But  up  the  slope  of  meadow  beyond  this  yard  were 
the  woods,  and  the  Davenport  children  had  always 
considered  these  woods  as  a  part  of  their  legitimate 
domain,  combining  thus,  as  their  mother  said,  "the 
advantages  of  the  country  with  all  the  conveniences 
of  the  city."  What  the  conveniences  of  the  city  were 
Harriet  was  unable  to  decide,  but  to  Linda's  practical 
mind  electric  light,  adequate  plumbing,  and  a  gas  stove 
were  all  extremely  important. 

A  chipped  cement  path  led  to  Linda's  steps;  there  was 
no  front  fence.  It  was  considered  vaguely  elegant,  in 
the  neighbourhood,  to  let  the  fifty-foot  plots  run 
together,  as  boundless  estates  might  unite.  So  that  the 
old  prim  charm  of  pickets  and  protected  gardens,  and 
protected  babies  playing  in  them,  had  long  ago  vanished 
from  country  homes,  and  although  the  lawns  here  were 
all  well  tended,  there  was  a  certain  bareness  and  in- 
definiteness  about  the  aspect  that  partly  accounted  for 
the  little  curl  of  distaste  that  touched  Harriet's  mouth 
when  she  thought  of  Linda's  home. 


HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER  77 

She  mounted  the  three  cement  steps  from  the  side- 
walk level,  and  the  four  shabby  and  peeling  wooden  ones 
that  rose  to  the  porch.  On  this  hot  summer  afternoon 
the  front  door  was  open,  and  Harriet  stepped  into  the 
odorous  gloom  of  the  hall,  and  let  the  screen  door  bang 
lightly  behind  her.  There  was  a  confused  murmur  of 
voices  and  the  clinking  of  plates  in  the  dining  room, 
but  these  ceased  instantly,  and  a  hush  ensued. 

Immediately,  in  the  open  archway  into  the  parlour,  a 
girl  of  fifteen  appeared,  a  pretty  girl  with  blue  eyes  and 
brown  hair,  a  shabby  but  fresh  little  shirtwaist  belted  by 
a  shabby  but  clean  white  skirt,  and  a  napkin  dangling 
from  her  hand. 

She  made  a  round  0  of  her  mouth,  and  then  gave  a 
shout  of  pleasure. 

"Oh,  Mother — it's  Aunt  Harriet!  Oh,  you  darl- 
ing--!" 

Harriet,  laughing  as  she  put  down  her  bag  and 
divested  herself  of  her  hat  and  wraps,  went  from  the 
child's  wild  embrace  into  the  arms  of  Linda  herself,  a 
tall,  broadly  built,  pleasant-faced  woman  with  none  of 
Harriet's  own  unusual  beauty,  but  with  a  family  re- 
semblance to  her  younger  sister  nevertheless. 

"Well,  you  sweet  good  child!"  she  said,  warmly. 
"Fred — here's  Harriet!  Well,  my  dear,  isn't  it  fortu- 
nate that  we  were  late!  We'd  hardly  commenced!" 

The  remaining  members  of  the  family  now  streamed 
forth:  Fred  Davenport,  a  thin,  rather  gray  man  of 
fifty,  with  an  intelligent  face,  a  worried  forehead,  and 
kindly  eyes;  Julia,  a  blonde  beauty  of  twelve;  Nammy, 
a  fat,  sweet  boy  of  five,  with  a  bib  on;  and  Pip,  a  serious 
ten-year-old,  with  black  hair  and  faded  blue  overalls, 


78  HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER 

and  strong  little  brown  hands  scrupulously  scrubbed 
to  the  wrist-bones,  where  dirt  and  grime  commenced 
again  unabated.  Josephine,  the  oldest  child,  continued 
to  dance  about  the  visitor  delightedly,  but  the  little 
thoughtful  Julia  disappeared,  and  when  presently  they 
all  went  out  to  resume  the  interrupted  meal,  a  place  had 
been  set  freshly  for  Harriet,  and  a  clean  plate  was 
waiting  for  her. 

"Now,  I  don't  know  whether  to  take  this  out  and 
heat  it  up  for  you,  or  whether  it's  still  hot,"  said  Linda, 
beaming  from  her  place  at  the  head  of  the  table. 

"I'll  do  it!"  said  Julia,  half  launched  from  her  chair. 

"Oh,  Mother,  it's  plenty  hot  enough!"  Josephine 
contended,  good  naturedly.  Harriet  protested  against 
the  reheating  plan.  It  seemed  to  her  the  middle  of 
the  afternoon,  with  the  blazing,  merciless  sunlight 
streaming  across  the  backyards.  She  had  forgotten 
that  Linda  had  dinner  at  half-past  six. 

"Iced  tea!  Oh,  don't  you  love  it ?  I  could  die  drink- 
ing it!"  Julia  said,  drawing  the  beverage  from  off  the 
ice  in  her  glass  with  Epicurean  delight. 

"You  very  probably  will!"  her  father  said.  The 
children  laughed  hilariously.  Linda  put  Harriet's  plate 
before  her,  and  Harriet  attacked  codfish  cakes  and 
boiled  potatoes  and  stewed  tomatoes  with  pieces  of 
pulpy  bread  in  them,  with  what  appetite  she  could  com- 
mand. The  stewed  blueberries  that  followed  were  ice- 
cold,  and  she  enjoyed  them  as  much  as  the  others  did. 

The  talk  ranged  wholesomely  from  family  to  national 
affairs.  Fred  was  a  newspaper  man,  one  of  the  sub- 
merged many,  underpaid,  overworked,  unheard,  yet 
vaguely  gratified  through  all  the  long  years  by  the  feel- 


HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER  79 

ing  that  his  groove  was  not  quite  the  groove  of  the 
office,  the  teller's  desk,  or  the  travelling  salesman's 
"beat."  Here  in  the  little  suburban  town  his  opinion 
gained  some  little  weight  from  the  fact  that  he  had  been 
ten  years  with  a  New  York  evening  paper.  Fred  held 
vaguely  with  labour  parties,  with  socialists  and  single- 
taxers;  his  sister-in-law  had  a  somewhat  caustic  feeling 
that  if  Fred  had  ever  given  Linda  a  really  capable  maid, 
his  opinions  might  have  been  more  endurable,  to  her, 
Harriet,  at  least.  Linda  had  had  maids,  Polack  and 
Swedish  girls,  and  Irish  country  girls  hardly  intelligible 
in  speech.  But  now  she  had  no  maid,  she  preferred  the 
economy  and  independence  of  doing  her  own  house- 
work. 

They  sat  on  into  absolute  darkness,  finishing  the  last 
teaspoonful  of  blueberry  preserve,  and  the  last  crumby 
cooky.  Mrs.  Davenport  was  interested  in  everything 
her  sister  had  to  say;  knew  the  Carters,  and  even  some 
of  their  closest  friends,  by  name,  and  asked  all  sorts  of 
questions  about  them.  Josephine,  after  a  half-hearted 
offer  to  help  with  the  dishes,  departed  for  a  rehearsal  of 
"Robin  Hood,"  which  was  to  be  given  by  the  women  of 
the  church  as  their  annual  entertainment.  While  she 
was  upstairs,  little  Nammy  was  sent  up  to  bed,  but 
when  it  was  absolutely  necessary  to  have  lights,  and  the 
group  at  the  table  naturally  adjourned,  little  Julia  and 
Pip  gallantly  did  their  share  of  the  work. 

Harriet  knew  that  work  by  heart;  no  amount  of 
absence  could  ever  make  her  unfamiliar  with  any  detail 
of  it.  The  clearing  of  the  table,  the  shaking  of  the 
crumpled  tablecloth,  the  setting  of  the  breakfast  table, 
the  hot  glare  of  electric  light  in  the  cluttered  and  odorous 


80  HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER 

kitchen,  the  scraping  of  congealed  plates,  the  spreading 
of  her  damp  tea  towel  on  the  rack  by  the  sink,  the  selec- 
tion of  a  dry  towel. 

Linda,  she  reflected,  had  had  seventeen  years — had 
had  something  nearer  twenty-five  years  of  it.  For 
Linda  had  been  only  Josephine's  age  when  their  mother 
died,  and  Professor  Field's  daughters  had  assumed  the 
management  of  his  little  home.  Linda  might  have 
been  anything,  thought  her  sister,  as  the  older  woman 
rinsed  and  soaped  cheerfully,  in  the  insufferable  heat  of 
the  kitchen,  but  she  had  always  had  cooking  and  dishes 
to  do.  She  said  that  she  liked  them. 

Julia  was  Harriet's  favourite  among  the  children. 
Pip  had  been  a  baby,  entirely  absorbing  his  mother, 
in  those  terrible  days  nine  years  ago,  but  Julia  had  been 
a  delicious,  confidential  two-year-old,  with  a  warm  soft 
hand,  and  a  flushed  little  friendly  face  under  tumbling 
curls.  Harriet  had  bathed  her,  dressed  her,  fed  her, 
and  taken  her  for  silent  walks.  And  on  many  a  moonlit 
night  the  unconscious  little  body  had  been  held  tight  in 
Harriet's  arms,  and  the  unconscious  little  face  wet  with 
passionate  tears. 

Julia  had  never  known  this,  but  Harriet  never  forgot 
it,  and  she  looked  at  Julia  lovingly,  as  the  small,  sturdy 
girl  in  her  shabby  little  school-frock  went  to  and  fro 
busily. 

"And  now  we  can  talk!"  Linda  said  at  last,  when  the 
kitchen  was  dark  and  hot  and  orderly,  and  the  children 
gone  upstairs  to  bed  in  hot  darkness,  and  she  and  Har- 
riet had  taken  the  seats  on  the  small,  hot  porch.  "This 
is  a  terrible  night — nine  o'clock — and  they  are  hardly 
settled  off  yet!" 


HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER  81 

Nine  o'clock.  They  would  still  be  at  dinner  at 
Crownlands,  and  the  river  breeze  would  be  blowing  the 
thin  curtains  of  Harriet's  French  windows  straight  into 
the  cool,  fresh  room.  She  would  be  out  on  the  porch, 
now,  looking  at  the  river  lights,  her  book  forgotten  in 
her  lap.  At  the  head  of  the  table  Richard  Carter  would 
be  sitting,  in  his  cool  and  immaculate  white,  and  at  the 
foot,  sparkling  and  beautiful,  with  her  fresh  bare  arms 
and  her  firm  bare  shoulders,  her  exquisitely  modelled 
hair  and  her  bright  eyes,  Isabelle.  And  beside  her, 
to-night,  Royal  Blondin,  musical,  poetical,  playing  the 
game  with  all  his  consummate  art,  scoring  with  every 
glance  and  word — 

Fred  was  at  the  piano.  It  was  a  poor  piano,  and  he 
was  a  poor  player  who  smoked  his  old  pipe  while  he 
painstakingly  fingered  Mendelssohn's  "Songs  Without 
Words"  or  the  score  of  "The  Geisha."  But  Linda 
loved  him. 

"He  will  putter  away  there,  perfectly  content,  for  an 
hour,"  she  told  Harriet.  "And  at  ten  you'll  see  him 
starting  to  get  Josephine.  They're  great  chums — she 
thinks  there's  no  one  in  the  world  like  Daddy!" 

"How  are  things  at  the  office?"  Harriet  asked. 

"Oh,  just  about  the  same!  Old  Frank  Judson  died, 
you  know,  and  of  course  Fred  expected  the  A.  P.  desk. 
But  Allen  had  a  nephew,  just  out  of  Yale,  it  seems,  and 
you  can  imagine  how  poor  old  Fred  felt  when  they  put 
him  in.  However,  I  said  he  wouldn't  last,  and  he 
didn't  last!  So  Fred  has  that  desk  now,  and  of  course 
he  is  tremendously  pleased." 

"More  money  in  it?"  Harriet  asked,  practically. 

"Well,  there  will  be.     Allen  hasn't  said  anything 


82  HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER 

about  it,  but  Fred  is  sure  he  will.  But  since  Fred's 
mother  died,  we've  felt  very  much  easier.  It  was  an 
expense,  and  it  was  a  responsibility,  too,"  said  Linda, 
with  her  plain,  fine,  unselfish  face  only  vaguely  visible 
to  Harriet  in  the  starlight.  "And  we  were  about  six 
months  clearing  up  the  final  expenses.  But  now,  with 
only  ourselves  and  the  children,  it  makes  me  feel 
positively  selfish!  I  did  tell  Mrs.  Underhill  that  I 
would  try  to  sew  regularly  for  the  Belgians,  and  there's 
the  Red  Cross,  I  always  manage  that.  But — I  know 
you'll  be  as  glad  as  I  am,  Harriet,  we  are  really  saving,  at 
last." 

"Well,  you  told  me  so  last  Christmas,"  Harriet  said, 
sympathetically,  "when  you  and  Fred  took  the  Liberty 
Bonds- 

"Yes,  that.  But  I  mean  really,  for  our  home,  now. 
And — but  don't  mention  this,  Harriet,  for  we  are  in 
perfect  dread  that  someone  else  will  have  the  same  idea 
— you  know  that  old  place  we've  been  watching  for 
years?  Well,  Mr.  Adams  told  David  Davenport  that 
he  believed  that  it  could  be  had  for  seven  or  eight  thou- 
sand dollars,  and  perhaps  only  one  thousand  or  fifteen 
hundred  paid  down." 

Harriet  remembered  the  place  perfectly,  a  shabby, 
fine  old  house  on  a  corner,  with  trees  and  an  old  stable, 
a  plot  perhaps  one  hundred  feet  wide,  a  street  flanked  by 
new  wooden  houses  and  young  trees.  Linda  and  Fred 
had  wanted  this  house  since  the  Sunday  walk,  wheeling 
Pip  in  the  perambulator,  when  they  had  first  seen  it. 

"We  could  do  wonders  with  that  house!"  said  Linda, 
enthusiastically.  "Not  all  at  once.  But  it  has  electric 
light  in,  that  we  know,  and  one  bath " 


HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER  83 

Harriet's  thoughts  had  wandered. 

"How's  David?" 

"Lovely.  He  always  comes  to  us  for  Sunday  dinner," 
Linda  said.  "And  he  always  asks  for  you!"  she  added, 
with  some  significance.  David  Davenport,  Fred's 
somewhat  heavy  and  plodding  brother,  a  successful 
Brooklyn  dentist,  had  never  made  any  secret  of  his  feel- 
ing for  the  beautiful  Harriet.  "David  is  a  dear,"  his 
sister-in-law  said,  "the  most  comfortable  person  to  have 
about!  And  he  is  doing  remarkably  well.  He  is  going 
to  make  some  woman  very  happy,  Harriet.  He  and 
Fred  both  have  that — well,  that  domestic  quality  that 
wears  pretty  well!  We've  promised  to  give  the  children 
a  picnic  on  the  ocean  a  week  from  Sunday,  and  you'd  be 
perfectly  touched  to  see  how  David  is  planning  for  it. 
We're  to  spend  Saturday  night  with  him — 

"I  like  David!"  Harriet  said,  in  answer  to  some  faint 
indication  of  reproach  in  her  sister's  tone.  But  im- 
mediately afterward  she  added,  in  a  lower  voice:  "Ward 
Carter  has  had  Royal  Blondin  at  the  house  this  week!'* 

Linda's  rocker  stopped  as  if  by  shock.  There  was 
an  electric  silence.  When  she  spoke  again  it  was  with 
awe  and  incredulity  and  something  like  terror  in  her 
tone. 

"  Royal  Blondin !     He's  in  England ! " 

"He  was,"  Harriet  said,  drily.  "He's  been  in  New 
York  for  two  years  now." 

"Harriet!     Why  didn't  you  tell  me?" 

"I  didn't  know,  Sis.  He  came  to  tea  last  week — 
stepped  up  and  held  out  his  hand — I  hadn't  even  seen 
him  since  that  night  in  your  Watertown  house " 

Linda  shuddered. 


84  HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER 

"I  know — I  remember!"  she  said  in  a  whisper.  And 
she  added  fervently,  "I  hoped  he  was  dead!" 

"So  did  I!"  Harriet  said,  simply. 

There  was  another  moment  of  silence.  Then  Linda 
said: 

"Well,  what  about  it?  What  did  he  say — what  did 
you  say?" 

"Nothing  very  significant;  what  was  there  to  say?" 
Harriet  answered.  "Our  meeting  was  entirely  ac- 
cidental. He  had  no  idea  of  finding  me;  was  as  sur- 
prised as  I  was."  She  stopped  abruptly,  musing  on 
some  unpalatable  thought.  "You  wouldn't  know  him, 
Linda.  He  is  a  perfect  freak,"  she  said,  presently, 
"talks  about  Karma  and  Nirvana  and  I  don't  know 
what  all!  Whether  he's  a  Theosophist  or  a  Brahmin 
I  don't  know— 

"For  Heaven's  sake!"  Mrs.  Davenport  commented, 
in  healthy  surprise  and  contempt. 

"New  thought,  and  poetry,  and  the  occult,  and 
Tagore  and  the  Russian  novelists,  and  the  Russian 
music,"  Harriet  said,  "he  lectures  about  them  and  he 
has  been  extremely  successful!  He  wears  pongee  coats 
and  red  ties,  and  has  his  hair  long,  and — well,  you  never 
saw  women  act  so  about  anything  or  anybody!" 

"Royal  Blondin!"  Linda  exclaimed,  aghast.  "Per- 
haps their  making  fools  of  themselves  will  make  it  not 
worth  his  while  to  bother  you,"  she  speculated,  hope- 
fully. 

"He's  having  dinner  with  the  Carters  to-night," 
Harriet  said.  To  this  Linda  could  only  ejaculate  again 
an  amazed: 

"Royal  Blondin!"     And  as  Harriet  merely  nodded, 


HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER  85 

in  the  gloom,  she  added,  vigorously,  "Why,  he  hadn't  a 
penny !  He  was  always  an  idiot — he  didn't  have 
enough  to  eat  ten  years  ago!" 

"Well,  he  has  enough  to  eat  now!  Ward  told  me 
that  he  gets  three  hundred  dollars  for  his  drawing- 
room  talks — his  'interpretive  musings',  he  called  them. 
And  he  has  a  book  of  poetry  out,  and  he  reviews  poetry 
for  some  magazine — 

"Well,  that—  "  Mrs.  Davenport  was  still  dazed  with 
astonishment  and  indignation.  "That  really —  '  she 
began,  and  stopped,  shaking  her  head.  "Tell  me  every- 
thing you  said!"  she  commanded. 

"I  will!"  Harriet's  voice  fell  flatly.  "I  came  home 
to  talk  it  over  with  you."  But  it  was  fully  five  minutes 
later  that  she  began  the  inevitable  confidences.  "We 
talked — Roy  and  I—  "  she  said,  briefly.  "He  doesn't 
belong  in  my  life,  now,  any  more  than  I  do  in  his!  We 
simply  agreed  to  a  sort  of  mutual  minding  of  our  own 
business — 

" Thank  God ! "  Mrs.  Davenport  said,  fervently.  "  He 
— he  doesn't  want  to — he  doesn't  still  feel — he  won't 
worry  you,  then?"  she  asked  somewhat  diffidently. 
Harriet's  laugh  had  an  unpleasant  edge. 

"He  is  after  bigger  game  than  I  am,  now!"  she  said. 

"The  brute!"  her  sister  commented  in  a  whisper. 
"It — it  is  all  right,  then?"  she  asked,  a  little  timidly. 

"All  right!"  Harriet  echoed,  bitterly.  "I  haven't 
drawn  a  happy  breath  since  I  saw  him!  All  that  time 
came  up  again,  as  fresh  as  if  it  were  yesterday — except 
that  I  have  climbed  a  little  way,  Linda;  I  was  happy — 
I  was  busy  and  useful — and  I  had — I  had  my  self- 
respect!" 


86  HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER 

And  suddenly  the  bright  head  was  in  Linda's  lap,  and 
she  was  sobbing  bitterly.  Linda,  with  a  great  ache  in 
her  heart,  circled  her  arms,  mother-fashion,  as  she  had 
circled  them  a  hundred  times,  about  her  little  sister. 


CHAPTER  VII 

HARRIET  slept  in  the  room  with  Julia  and  Josephine 
that  night,  or  rather  tossed  and  lay  wakeful  there. 
The  light  of  a  street  lamp  came  squarely  in  on  the  white 
ceiling,  and  although  the  hall  door  was  open,  there  was 
no  breath  of  air  moving  anywhere.  The  children  slept 
in  attitudes  of  youthful  abandonment;  Harriet  heard 
Fred  and  Linda  murmuring  steadily,  and  could  imagine 
of  what  they  spoke;  little  Nammy  awakened,  and  there 
was  an  interval  of  maternal  comforting,  and  then 
silence. 

At  about  two  o'clock  the  wind  streamed  mercifully  in, 
hot  and  thick,  but  prophetic  of  rain,  and  Harriet, 
wandering  about  to  make  windows  fast,  encountered 
Linda,  on  the  same  errand.  When  the  worst  of  the 
crackling  and  flashing  was  over,  the  girl  glanced  at  her 
watch  again.  Three  o'clock,  but  she  could  sleep  now. 
She  sank  deeply  into  dreams,  not  to  stir  until  Linda's 
alarm  clock,  hastily  smothered,  thrilled  at  seven,  and 
the  small  girls  rose  with  cheerful  noise,  to  let  streams  of 
hot  sunshine  upon  her  face. 

Her  head  ached;  she  brushed  Julia's  hair  as  a  sort  of 
bribe  for  turning  the  small  girl  out  of  the  bathroom, 
and  was  in  the  tub  when  Pip  hammered  on  the  door  for 
his  turn.  Linda  was  in  a  whirl  of  blue  smoke  in  the 
kitchen;  Fred  shouted  a  request  for  a  little  more  hot 
water;  Josephine  set  the  table  with  languid  grace, 

87 


88  HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER 

entertaining  her  aunt  with  a  description  of  "Robin 
Hood." 

Her  face  beaming  with  satisfaction,  Linda  assembled 
her  brood.  There  were  cocoa  and  coffee  and  muffins 
and  omelette  and  Fred's  little  bottle  of  cream,  and  his 
paper,  and  there  was,  as  always,  Linda's  spontaneous 
grace  before  meat:  "I  wonder  if  we're  thankful 
enough,  when  we  think  of  those  poor  people  in  Poland 
and  Belgium!" 

Immediately  after  breakfast  the  two  small  girls 
attacked  their  Saturday  morning's  work  with  a  philo- 
sophic vigour  that  rather  touched  their  aunt.  This 
morning  Linda  would  leave  the  whole  lower  floor  to 
their  ministrations  while  she  thoroughly  cleaned  the 
floor  above.  Josephine  must  bake  cake  or  cookies,  all 
the  dishwashing  and  dusting  and  sweeping  must  be 
done  before  Mother  came  down  at  twelve  to  put  fin- 
ishing touches  on  the  lunch.  Fred  had  hurried  away 
after  his  hasty  meal;  the  boys  were  turned  out  into  the 
backyard,  which  Pip  was  expected  to  rake  while  he 
watched  his  small  brother. 

Harriet's  heart  ached  deeply  for  them  all  as  she 
watched  the  Jersey  marshes  from  the  car  window  a 
few  hours  later.  The  poor  little  pretty  girls,  gallantly 
soaking  their  small  hands  in  dishwater  and  lye,  eager 
over  the  church  production  of  "Robin  Hood"  and  a 
picnic  with  Uncle  David  at  Asbury!  Josephine  was  to 
be  a  stenographer  when  she  finished  High  School,  and 
little  Julia  had  expressed  an  angelic  ambition  to  teach 
a  kindergarten  class  some  day.  Nina,  at  their  ages,  had 
had  her  pony,  her  finishing  school,  her  little  silk  stock- 
ings, and  her  monogrammed  ivory  toilet  set,  her  trip 


HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER  89 

to  England  and  France  and  Italy  with  her  mother  and 
brother  and  grandmother. 

Suppose  that  she,  Harriet,  was  right  in  suspecting 
that  Ward's  feeling  was  more  than  the  passing  gallantry 
of  a  light-hearted  boy?  She  bit  her  lip,  narrowed  her 
idle  gaze  on  the  meadows  that  flew  by  the  car  window. 
It  would  be  a  nine-days'  wonder,  his  marriage  at  twenty- 
two  with  his  mother's  secretary,  more  than  four  years 
his  senior.  But  after  that?  After  that  there  would  be 
nothing  to  say  or  do.  Young  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Ward 
Carter  would  establish  themselves  comfortably,  and  the 
elder  Carters  would  visit  them;  Isabelle  absorbed  as 
usual  in  her  own  mysterious  thoughts,  and  Richard 
Carter — 

Harriet's  thoughts,  none  too  comfortable  up  to  this 
point,  stopped  here,  and  she  flushed.  It  was  im- 
possible to  see  Richard  Carter,  as  she  saw  him  every 
day,  in  the  role  of  husband,  father,  son,  and  employer, 
without  holding  him  in  hearty  respect.  She  liked  him 
thoroughly;  she  knew  him  to  be  the  simplest,  the  most 
genuine  and  honest,  of  them  all.  He  had  none  of  his 
wife's  airy  selfishness,  none  of  his  mother's  cold  pride. 
Nina  was  far  more  of  a  snob  than  her  father,  and 
Ward — well,  Ward  was  only  a  sweet,  spoiled,  generous 
boy,  at  twenty-two.  But  Harriet  always  saw  behind 
Richard  Carter,  the  years  that  had  made  him,  the 
patient,  straightforward,  hard-working  clerk  who  had 
been  sober,  and  true,  and  intelligent  enough  to  lift  him- 
self out  of  the  common  rut  long  before  the  golden 
secret  that  lay  at  the  heart  of  the  Carter  Asbestos 
Company  had  flashed  upon  him.  Money  had  not 
spoiled  Richard;  he  still  held  wealth  in  respect,  while 


90  HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER 

Ward  ordered  his  racing  car,  and  Nina  yawned  over 
twelve-dollar  school  shoes. 

No;  she  would  not  enjoy  telling  Richard  that  she 
was  to  marry  his  son.  Those  keen  eyes  would  read  her 
through  and  through,  and  while  her  father-in-law  might 
love  her,  and  see  her  beauty  and  charm  with  all  the 
rest  of  the  world,  Harriet  knew  that  she  must  begin  an 
actual  campaign  for  his  esteem  on  her  wedding  day. 
The  prospect  had  an  unexpected  piquancy.  She  had 
little  fear  of  its  outcome.  She  would  make  Ward 
Carter  a  wife  for  whom  his  father  must  come  to  feel 
genuine  gratitude  and  devotion.  Every  fibre  of  her 
being  would  be  strained  to  make  the  Carter  marriage  a 
success.  She  knew  what  persons  to  cultivate,  and  what 
elements  to  weed  out  of  their  lives.  There  would  be 
children,  there  would  be  hospitality  and  music  and  a 
garden.  And  Ward  should  seriously  settle  down  to 
his  business,  whatever  it  might  be,  and  show  himself  a 
worthy  son  of  his  clever  father. 

Isabelle,  simply  because  of  her  supreme  indifference 
to  whatever  did  not  affect  her  own  personal  affairs, 
would  be  easy  to  handle.  Her  son's  marriage  might 
pique  her,  momentarily,  but  less,  on  the  whole,  than  the 
discovery  that  she  had  gained  eight  pounds,  or  that  new 
wrinkles  had  appeared  about  her  eyes.  She  would  very 
probably  choose  the  position  of  championing  Harriet,  if 
only  to  infuriate  the  old  lady.  Madame  Carter  would 
of  course  be  frantic,  but  Ward's  wife  need  have  no  fear 

of  her.     And  Nina 

"I  would  very  soon  put  a  stop  to  that  Blondin  affair!" 
thought  Harriet  at  this  point.  But  a  sharp  little  wedge 
of  fear  entered  her  heart  at  the  same  second.  It 


HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER  91 

would  not  do  to  anger  Royal,  that  end  of  the  tangle 
must  be  handled  very  carefully.  Whatever  influence 
she  might  have  with  Nina  must  be  used  with  discretion. 

"After  all,  Nina  must  live  her  own  life,  as  I  have  to 
live  mine!"  she  thought.  And  her  mind  drifted  to  the 
happier  thought  of  what  a  brilliant  marriage  on  her 
part  would  mean  to  the  little  girls  who  were  so  busily 
cleaning  an  eight-room  house  in  a  little  Jersey  suburb. 
Josephine  and  Julia  should  come  to  visit  her,  they 
should  have  little  frocks  that  would  befit  the  pretty 
nieces  of  Mrs.  Ward  Carter;  they  should  have  a  taste 
of  polo  games  and  country  clubs,  and  in  a  winter  or 
two  Josephine's  first  formal  dance  should  be  given  in 
Aunt  Harriet's  house. 

"Why  not — why  not?"  Harriet  asked  herself,  as  she 
reached  Madame  Carter's  pretentious  apartment  house, 
and  was  whisked  upstairs.  She  was  to  meet  Nina  here, 
and  she  glanced  about  for  the  big  limousine  at  the  curb, 
as  an  indication  that  the  old  lady  might  be  ready  to  ac- 
company them  back  to  Crownlands.  But  there  was  no 
car  in  sight.  The  maid's  first  statement  was  that  Miss 
Carter  had  gone  home  with  her  brother,  and  when 
Madame  Carter  came  magnificently  into  the  room, 
Harriet  could  see  from  the  nature  of  her  head-dress 
that  she  did  not  intend  to  assume  a  hat  for  some  hours. 
When  Mrs.  Carter  meant  to  go  out,  her  maid  pinned 
and  pressed  and  veiled  her  hat  immovably,  while  dress- 
ing her,  as  a  fixture,  with  the  puffs  and  braids  and  curls 
of  white  hair. 

"Well,  our  bird  has  flown!"  said  the  old  lady.  Harriet 
could  see  that  she  was  pleased  about  something. 

"Gone  home  with  Ward?"  Harriet  asked.     Madame 


92  HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER 

Carter  never  shook  hands  with  her;  there  was  conscious 
superiority  in  the  little  omission.  She  sank  into  a  chair, 
and  Harriet  sat  down. 

"Ward  and  his  friend,  this  Mr.  Blondin,"  Madame 
Carter  said.  "A  very  interesting — a  most  unusual  man. 
A  very  good  family,  too — excellent  old  family.  Yes. 
Nina  assured  us  that  she  had  to  wait  and  go  home  with 
her  Daddy,  but  that—  Madame  Carter  gave 
Harriet  a  deeply  significant  smile — "but  that  didn't 
seem  to  please  Somebody  very  much ! "  she  added.  "  So 
I  told  Nina  I  thought  Granny  would  be  able  to  make 
it  all  right  with  Daddy,  and  off  the  young  people 
went." 

She  rocked,  with  a  benignly  triumphant  expression, 
and  a  complacent  rustle  of  silken  skirts.  Harriet,  be- 
neath an  automatic  smile,  hid  a  troubled  heart.  Royal 
was  losing  no  time,  Ward  his  innocent  instrument,  and 
this  fatuous  old  lady  of  course  playing  his  game  for 
him!  Madame  Carter  had  always  spoiled  Nina  in 
something  a  trifle  more  defined  and  malicious  than  the 
usual  grandmotherly  fashion.  She  had  indulged  the 
child  in  chocolates  when  the  doctor's  prohibition  of 
sweets  was  being  scrupulously  enforced  by  Isabelle 
and  Harriet;  she  had  permitted  late  hours  and  unsuit- 
able plays  when  Nina  visited  her;  she  had  encouraged 
her  granddaughter  in  a  thousand  little  snobberies  and 
affectations.  And  she  had  taken  a  mischievous  pleas- 
ure in  thwarting  Harriet  whenever  possible,  emphasiz- 
ing the  difference  in  her  position  and  Nina's,  humiliating 
the  companion  whenever  it  was  possible,  in  ways  that 
were  far  less  subtle  than  Madame  Carter  imagined 
them  to  be. 


HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER  93 

Harriet  saw  now  that  she  was  pleased  and  flattered 
by  an  older  man's  apparent  admiration  of  Nina;  and 
that  she  would  further  the  girl's  first  definite  affair  in 
every  way  that  lay  in  her  power.  It  was  maddening; 
it  was  exasperating  beyond  words.  An  honest  warning 
would  have  merely  flattered  her  with  its  implication 
of  her  importance;  ah,  no,  Isabelle  and  Harriet  might 
try  to  hold  the  child  back — but  Granny  knew  girl  na- 
ture better  than  either  of  them! 

"Well,  then,  I  must  follow  them  home,"  Harriet  said, 
pleasantly.  "You  don't  come  back  to-night?" 

To  this  Madame  Carter  very  pointedly  made  no 
answer;  her  plans  were  not  Miss  Field's  business.  She 
rocked  on  placidly,  in  her  ornate,  pleasant  room,  at 
whose  curtained  and  undercurtained  and  overdraped 
windows  the  summer  sunshine  was  battling  to  enter.  It 
was  a  large  room,  but  seemed  small  because  the  rugs 
were  two  and  three  deep  on  the  floor,  and  there  was  so 
much  rich,  dark  furniture,  so  many  lamps  and  jars  and 
pictures  and  boxes  and  frames,  handsome  but  hetero- 
geneous treasures  that  must  always  remain  in  exactly 
the  same  positions.  The  several  tables  were  angled 
carefully,  their  draperies  lay  precise'y  placed,  year  after 
year;  Harriet  knew  that  all  the  ten  rooms  were  just  the 
same,  and  that  the  old  lady  liked  to  walk  slowly  through 
them,  and  note  the  lace  over  satin,  the  glint  of  ranked 
wineglasses,  the  gleam  of  polished  silver,  the  clocks 
and  candlesticks.  There  were  certain  ornate  ashtrays 
for  Richard  and  Ward,  there  was  a  magnificent  piano 
player,  for  which  his  grandmother  bought  the  boy  a 
dozen  rolls  a  month,  selecting  them  with  splendid 
indifference  on  one  of  her  regal  expeditions  downtown, 


94  HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER 

and  there  was  a  massive  Victrola,  which  had  once  de- 
lighted Nina  for  hours  at  a  time. 

"The  child  is  growing  up!"  the  old  lady  said,  smiling 
at  some  thought.  "Well,  we  must  look  for  love  affairs 
now!" 

Harriet  felt  that  there  was  small  profit  in  following  this 
line  of  conversation.  She  glanced  at  her  twisted  wrist. 

"I  think  I  will  make  that  two  o'clock  train,  Madame 
Carter,  unless  there  is  some  errand  I  might  do  for  you?" 
she  said  respectfully. 

This  courtesy,  from  a  beautiful  young  woman  to  an 
old  one,  always  antagonized  Madame  Carter.  Harriet 
knew  that  she  was  casting  about  for  some  honeyed  and 
venomous  farewell,  when  the  muffled  thrill  of  the  bell 
came  to  them,  and  the  footsteps  of  Ella  were  heard. 
Immediately  afterward  Richard  Carter  came  quickly  in. 

He  met  Harriet  at  the  door. 

"How  are  you,  Miss  Field?  Tell  Nina  to  hurry; 
I've  got  about  five  minutes!"  he  said,  pleasantly. 

"Don't  keep  Miss  Field;  she  is  making  her  train!" 
said  his  mother,  coming  forward  under  full  sail,  and 
laying  both  hands  about  his.  "I'll  explain  about  Nina. 
Come  here — you  have  time  to  sit  down  with  your 
mother,  I  hope!" 

Richard  Carter  gave  his  mother  the  peculiarly  warm 
smile  that  was  especially  her  own. 

"Went  on  with  Ward,  eh?"  he  said,  in  his  hearty 
voice.  "That's  all  right,  then.  Oh,  Miss  Field!"  he 
called,  after  Harriet's  discreetly  retreating  back,  "the 
car's  downstairs.  Wait  for  me  there;  I'll  run  you  home 
in  half  the  time  the  train  takes.  I'm  playing  in  the 
tennis  finals,  Mother " 


HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER  95 

Harriet,  turning  for  just  a  nod  and  smile,  heard  no 
more.  His  voice  dropped  to  a  filial  undertone,  and  he 
sank  into  a  low  chair,  with  his  hands  still  clasping  the 
old  lady's  hand.  But  as  she  entered  the  lift,  the  girl 
said  to  herself,  with  a  passionate  sort  of  gratitude: 
"Oh,  I  like  you!  You're  the  only  genuine  and  unselfish 
and  kind-hearted  one  in  the  whole  crowd!" 

She  went  down  to  the  street,  and  saw  the  small  car 
waiting.  He  was  driving  himself  to-day.  With  a 
great  sense  of  comfort  and  relaxation  Harriet  got  into  it, 
and  was  comfortably  established,  and  tucked  in  snugly, 
when  Richard  came  down.  He  smiled  at  seeing  her, 
got  into  his  own  seat;  the  machine  slipped  smoothly 
into  motion,  the  hot  and  sordid  streets  began  to  glide  by. 

"Ever  think  how  illuminating  it  would  be,  Miss  Field, 
if  we  kept  a  list  of  the  things  that  are  worrying  us  sick, 
and  read  'em  over  a  few  weeks  later?" 

"I  suppose  so!"  the  girl  said,  a  little  surprised,  and 
yet  with  fervour.  "We'd  have  a  fresh  bunch  then,  and 
be  worrying  away  just  as  hard!" 

The  spontaneous  response  in  her  tone  made  Richard 
Carter  laugh. 

"I've  had  something  on  my  mind  for  two  months," 
he  said,  "to-day  I  ran  into  the  fellow  I  thought  was  go- 
ing to  make  the  trouble — we  had  lunch  together,  and 
everything  was  settled  up  as  calm  as  a  June  day!  I 
feel  ten  years  younger  than  I  did  at  this  time  yesterday! 
What  made  me  think  of  it  was  that  I  had  it  on  my  mind 
that  you  and  Nina  and  the  bags  would  be  a  crowd  in  this 
car  when  I  came  out  to  my  mother's  a  few  minutes  ago. 
I  was  figuring  on  sending  the  bags  on  to-morrow,  and  so 
on  and  so  on " 


96  HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER 

"It's  often  that  way,"  Harriet  smiled.  "Only  money 
trouble  really  seems  to  have  a  solid,  tangible  form," 
she  added,  thoughtfully. 

"Combined  with  some  other,"  he  surprised  her  by 
answering  quickly,  as  if  he  were  quite  at  home  with  his 
subject.  "If  there  isn't  sickness — or  drink 

"Oh,  you  can't  say  that,  Mr.  Carter!"  Harriet  was  at 
home  here,  too.  "Everybody  who  is  respectable  and 
hard  working  and  sober  doesn't  get  rich — 

"No,  not  rich!"  He  was  really  interested.  "But 
our  contention  isn't  that  riches  are  the  only  happiness, 
is  it?"  he  countered. 

"No,  but  I  say  that  money  trouble  is  a  very  real 
thing,"  she  answered,  quickly. 

"There  is  a  golden  mean,  Miss  Field,  between  being 
rich  and  being  poor!"  he  reminded  her. 

"I  suppose  I  am  rather  bitter,"  Harriet  said,  enjoying 
this  confidence  more  than  she  could  stop  to  realize, 
"because  I  have  just  been  to  see  my  sister  in  New  Jersey. 
She  has  four  children,  pretty  well  grown  now,  and  her 
husband  is  really  a  good  man,  and  a  steady  man,  too — 
he  is  a  sort  of  Jack-of-all-trades  on  a  Brooklyn  news- 
paper. I  suppose  Fred  is  paid  sixty  dollars  a  week, 
and  they  save  on  that!  But ' 

"She's  unhappy,  eh?"  asked  the  man,  with  a  sidewise 
glance. 

"Linda?"  Harriet  laughed  ruefully.  "No,  she's  not! 
She's  too  happy,"  she  said,  with  a  little  laugh  that  apolo- 
gized for  the  sentiment.  "She  washes  and  cooks  and 
plans  all  day  and  all  night!  I'm  the  one  who  worries.  It 
makes  me  sad  to  have  her  work  so  hard  for  so  little " 

She  sensed  his  lack  of  sympathy,  and  stopped  short, 


HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER  97 

in  a  little  vague  surprise.  There  was  a  brief  silence 
while  he  took  the  car  skillfully  through  a  somewhat  con- 
gested side  street,  then  they  were  leaving  the  hot  city 
behind,  and  the  fresh  breath  of  the  river  was  in  their 
faces.  Harriet,  in  self-defence,  sketched  the  Davenport 
home  for  him  in  a  dozen  sentences. 

"You  might  tell  your  brother-in-law,  from  me," 
Richard  Carter  said,  presently,  "that  there  isn't  much 
that  money  will  buy  him!" 

Harriet  flushed.  She  had  had  perhaps  a  dozen  brief 
conversations  with  Richard  Carter  before  to-day,  but 
they  had  never  touched  so  personal  a  note  before. 

"I  sounded  mercenary!"  she  said,  a  little  uncomfort- 
ably. "But  I  didn't  mean  to  be.  I  suppose  it  is  be- 
cause I  see  so  many  things  that  money  would  do  for 
my  sister;  I'd  love  so  to  have  the  children  beautifully 
dressed  and  well  educated.  Little  Pip,  raking  the  yard 
to-day! — when  he  ought  to  be  in  some  wonderful  Mon- 
tessori  school!" 

"Oh,  nonsense!"  the  man  said,  heartily.  "Lord — 
Lord,  I  remember  Saturday  morning,  in  a  little  Ohio 
town,  and  raking  up  the  leaves,  too!  That  won't  hurt 
them.  I  wish — I've  often  wished,  that  Nina's  life  ran 
a  little  more  in  that  direction,"  said  her  father,  frankly. 
"It's  hard  not  to  spoil  'em  when  you  have  the  chance! 
Girls — well,  perhaps  it  isn't  so  bad  for  girls.  But  I 
look  at  Ward,  now,  and  I  wonder  what  on  earth  is  going 
to  keep  that  boy  straight.  This  Tony  Pope,  for  in- 
stance— it's  too  much,  you  know!  They  don't  know  the 
value  of  money,  and  they  don't  know  the  value  of  life ! " 

"Ward  is  too  sweet  to  be  spoiled,"  Harriet  ventured, 
somewhat  timidly. 


98  HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER 

"You  like  the  boy?"  his  father  asked. 

"I?  Ward?"  She  was  taken  unawares,  and  flushed 
brightly.  "Indeed  I  do!" 

"I'm  glad  you  do,"  Richard  Carter  said,  in  quiet 
satisfaction.  "I've  imagined  sometimes  that  you  have 
a  good  influence  on  him — he's  impressionable."  He  fell 
into  silence,  and  for  some  time  there  was  no  further 
speech  between  them.  Harriet  was  content  to  enjoy 
this  restful  interval  between  the  hurry  and  crowding  of 
Linda's  house  and  the  currents  and  cross-currents 
that  she  must  encounter  at  Crownlands.  She  watched 
the  green  country  go  by,  the  trees  silent  and  heavy  with 
their  rich  foliage,  the  villages  blazing  with  the  last  June 
roses.  It  was  oppressively  hot,  yesterday's  storm  had 
not  much  relieved  the  air,  but  Harriet  was  conscious  of  a 
lazy  feeling  that  it  did  not  so  much  matter  now,  the 
weather  was  no  longer  of  importance.  A  mere  accident 
had  made  it  natural  for  Richard  Carter  to  drive  her 
home,  and  yet  she  was  pleasantly  thrilled  by  the  cir- 
cumstance. 

They  flew  by  the  great  gates  of  the  country  club,  and 
turned  in  past  Crownlands  lodge,  and  Harriet  got  out, 
at  the  steps,  and  turned  her  happy,  flushed  face  toward 
the  man  to  thank  him.  A  little  spraying  film  of  golden 
hair  had  loosened  under  her  hat;  her  cheeks  had  a  sum- 
mer burn  over  their -warm  olive;  her  eyes  shone  very 
blue.  Whatever  she  saw  in  his  face  as  he  smiled  and 
nodded  at  her  pleased  her,  for  she  went  upstairs  saying 
again  to  herself,  "Oh,  you're  real — you're  honest — I 
like  you!" 

It  was  delightful  to  get  back  into  the  familiar  atmos- 
phere, to  catch  the  fragrance  of  flowers  in  the  orderly 


HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER  99 

gloom  downstairs,  to  take  off  her  hat  and  her  hot,  dusty 
clothing,  and  have  a  leisurely  hot  bath;  to  put  on 
fresh  and  fragrant  summer  wear,  and  to  go  down-stairs 
presently,  rejoicing  in  being  young  and  comfortable,  and 
tremendously  interested  in  life.  A  maid  stopped  to 
question  her;  there  were  letters  to  open;  she  felt  herself 
instantly  a  part  of  the  establishment  again,  and  at  home 
here.  The  significance  of  Richard  Carter's  parting 
look,  its  honest  admiration  and  friendliness,  aug- 
mented by  her  own  glance  at  a  chance  mirror  on  her 
way  upstairs,  stayed  with  her  pleasantly. 

At  one  end  of  the  terrace  there  was  an  awning  whose 
shade  fell  upon  the  brick  flooring  and  the  jars  of  bloom; 
and  this  afternoon  it  also  shaded  Isabelle,  in  a  basket 
chair,  and  the  big  hound,  and  Tony  Pope.  Harriet 
cast  them  a  passing  glance,  and  wondered  a  little  in  her 
heart.  The  boy  was  handsome,  and  fascinating,  and 
rich,  but  it  was  just  a  little  unusual  to  have  Isabelle 
so  openly  interested  in  any  one.  There  were  no  other 
callers  this  afternoon;  Nina  had  driven  to  the  golf  club 
with  her  father,  and  might  be  expected  to  remain  there 
for  tea,  if  any  entertainment  offered  or  to  return  home 
when  Hansen  brought  the  car  back. 

The  thought  of  Nina  brought  Royal  Blondin  again 
to  Harriet's  mind,  and  she  was  conscious  of  a  little  in- 
ternal wincing.  But  that  risk  must  be  faced  simply,  as 
one  of  the  unpalatable  possibilities  of  life.  That  Royal 
would  take  some  step  against  which  she  must,  in  honour 
bound,  protest;  that  Nina  should  engage  herself  to 
him,  and  Nina's  parents  consent;  that  no  fortuitous 
circumstance  should  play  into  Harriet's  hands,  and 
that  she  should  be  obliged  to  antagonize  him  openly, 


100  HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER 

was  unthinkable  on  this  peaceful,  golden  afternoon. 
The  canvas  was  too  big,  the  cast  of  characters  too  large, 
there  must  be  some  shifting  of  scene,  some  change  in 
plot,  before  anything  so  momentous  occurred. 

Yet  the  danger,  faint  though  it  might  be,  was  already 
influencing  her.  She  was  committed  to  a  certain 
amount  of  diplomatic  silence  now;  her  position  here 
had  subtly  changed  since  the  hour  that  brought  Royal 
Blondin  back  into  her  life  a  few  days  ago.  Linda's 
concern,  and  her  own  agony  of  apprehension  when  she 
first  saw  him,  had  shown  her  just  how  frail  was  her  hold 
upon  this  pleasant  and  smooth  existence,  and  in  self- 
defence  she  had  begun  for  the  first  time  to  think  of 
making  it  more  definite.  If  she  was  to  have  all  the 
terrors  of  maintaining  a  dangerous  position,  at  least  she 
might  be  sure  of  its  sweets. 

Undefined  and  vague,  all  this  was  still  somewhere 
in  the  background  of  her  thoughts  as  she  returned  to 
Crownlands,  and  when  she  met  Ward  Carter,  wrestling 
with  the  engine  of  his  own  rather  disreputable  racing  car, 
out  in  one  of  the  clean,  gravelled  spaces  near  the  garage. 
His  coat  was  ofF,  his  fresh,  pleasant  face  streaked  with 
oil  and  earth,  his  sleeves  rolled  up  to  the  elbow. 

Harriet,  who  had  wandered  out  idly,  felt  a  little 
quickening  of  her  pulses  as  she  saw  him.  There  was  no 
mistaking  the  pleasure  in  his  eyes  as  she  came  close. 

"Spark  plugs?'*  she  asked,  with  the  sympathy  of  one 
to  whom  the  peculiarities  of  the  car  were  familiar. 

"She's  fixed  now;  I've  just  cleaned  'em,"  Ward  an- 
nounced, flinging  away  his  cigarette,  and  straightening 
his  back.  "She'll  go  like  a  bird,  now.  When  did  you 
get  back?" 


HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER  101 

"Your  father  drove  me  home,  like  the  angel  he  is. 
You  came  with  Nina?" 

"Nina  and  Blondin.  Then  I  drove  him  on  to  the 
Evans's.  But  she  began  to  act  queer  on  the  way  home," 
said  Ward,  fondly,  of  the  car.  "Say — get  in  and  try 
her,  will  you?"  he  asked,  eagerly. 

"If  you  could  wipe  your  face —  "  Harriet  murmured, 
offering  a  handkerchief.  He  declined  it,  but  snatched 
out  his  own,  and  distributed  the  dirt  on  his  face  some- 
what more  evenly.  "Come  on — come  on,  be  a  sport!" 
he  said.  But  perhaps  he  was  as  much  surprised  as 
delighted  when  she  very  simply  stepped  into  the  low 
front  seat.  There  was  a  friendly  nearness  of  her  fresh 
white  ruffles,  and  a  thrilling  fragrance  and  sweetness 
and  youngness  about  her  this  afternoon  that  was  new. 
Miss  Field  always,  in  Ward's  simple  vocabulary,  had 
been  a  "corker."  But  now  he  gave  her  more  than  one 
sidewise  glance  as  they  went  dipping  smoothly  up  and 
down  through  the  green  lanes,  and  said  to  himself, 
"Gosh — when  she  crinkles  those  blue  eyes  of  hers,  and 
her  mouth  sort  of  twitches  as  if  she  wanted  to  laugh, 
she  is  a  beauty — that's  what  she  is!" 

And  dressing  for  dinner,  some  time  later,  he  found 
himself  stopping  short,  once  or  twice,  with  his  tie 
dangling  in  his  hand,  or  his  brushes  aimlessly  suspended, 
while  he  calculated  the  chances  of  encountering  her 
again — in  the  pantry,  in  one  of  the  hallways,  in  the  side 
garden,  where  she  often  went,  at  about  twilight,  with  a 
book. 

About  a  week  later  they  met  for  a  few  moments  in 
this  very  side  garden.  It  was  early  evening,  and  twi- 


HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER 

light  and  moonlight  were  mingled  over  the  silent  roses, 
and  the  trimmed  turf,  and  the  low  brick  walls.  The 
birds  had  long  gone  to  bed,  and  the  first  dews  were 
bringing  out  a  thousand  delicious  odours  of  summer- 
rime.  Harriet's  white  gown  and  white  shoes  made  her 
a  soft  glimmering  in  the  tender  darkness;  Ward  was  in 
informal  dinner  clothes,  with  the  shine  of  dampness 
still  on  his  sleek  hair,  and  the  pleasant  freshness  of  his 
scarcely  finished  toilet  still  about  him. 

They  came  straight  toward  each  other,  and  stood  very 
close  together,  and  he  took  both  of  Harriet's  hands. 

"Now,  what  is  it — what  is  it?"  the  man  said,  quickly. 
"I've  been  waiting  long  enough.  I  can't  stand  it  any 
longer!  I  can't  go  away  to-morrow,  perhaps  for  two 
weeks,  and  not  know!" 

"Ward,"  the  girl  faltered,  lifting  an  exquisite  face  that 
wore,  even  in  the  faint  moonshine,  a  troubled  and  intense 
expression,  "can't  we  let  it  all  wait  until  you  get  back?" 

"I'll  keep  my  mouth  shut,  nobody  suspects  us,  if 
that's  what  you  mean!"  he  answered,  impatiently. 
"But — why,  Harriet,"  and  his  arm  went  about  her 
shoulders,  and  he  bent  his  face  over  hers,  "Harriet,  why 
not  let  me  go  happy?"  he  pleaded. 

"You'll  see  a  dozen  younger  girls  at  the  Bellamys' 
camp,"  Harriet  reasoned,  "girls  with  whom  it  would  be 
infinitely  more  suitable " 

"PUast!"  he  interrupted,  patiently.  And  almost 
touching  her  warm,  smooth  cheek  with  his  own,  and 
coming  so  close  that  to  raise  her  beautiful  eyes  was  to  find 
his  only  a  few  inches  away,  he  added,  fervently,  "You 
love  me  and  I  love  you — isn't  that  all  that  matters?" 

Did   she  love  him?     Harriet   hoped,   when   she   re- 


Tiewed  it  all  in  the  restless*  tossing  boors  of  the  night. 
that  she  had  thought,  in  that  ••••!,  that  she  did. 
It  was  mvu&ufi  al  to  fccithat -Uiung  eager  arm  about  her, 
there  was  a  sweet  and  beady  intoxication  in  his  jtannitm, 
even  if  it  did  not  awaken  an  answering  passion  in  return. 
Under  all  her  reasoning  and  tumMriHTt  *wnm&  im  the 
night  there  crept  the  knowledge  that  she  bad  known 
that  tins  was  coming,  had  known  that  only  a  few  days 
of  encouraging  friendliness,  only  a  few  appealing  glances 
from  ugJifud  bhie  eyes,  and  a  few  casual  touches  of  a 
smooth  brown  hand  must  bring  this  hour  upon  her. 
And  back  of  this  hour,  and  of  a  man's  joy  in  winning 
the  numan  he  loved,  she  had  seen  the  hazy  future  of 
prosperity  and  beauty  and  ease,  the  gowns  and  cars 
and  homes,  the  pimliiMi  of  young  Mrs.  Ward  Carter. 

But  she  told  herself  that  all  that  was  forgotten  in  that 
magic  five  minutes  of  iniXMilifchl  and  fragrance  and 
beauty  in  the  rase  garden;  she  told  herself  that  she 
really  did  love  him — who  could  help  loving  Ward: — 
and  that  she  would  save  him  far  better  than  he  could 
save  himself,  from  everything  that  was  not  loving  and 
helpful  and  good,  in  the  years  to  come. 

She  had  let  him  turn  her  face  up,  in  the  strengthening 
moonlight,  and  kiss  her  hungrily  upon  the  lips,  and  she 
had  sent  him  in  to  his  dinner  half-wild  with  the  joy  of 
knowing  himself  beloved.  Harriet  bad  gone  in,  too, 
shaken  and  half-frightened,  and  with  his  last  whispered 
prophecy  ringing  in  her  ears: 

"Wait  a  year — rot!  Ill  gp  to  the  Bellamys*,  because 
I  promised  to,  but  the  day  I  come  back,  and  that's  two 
•weeks  from  to-day,  well  tefl  everyone,  and  this  time 
next  year  you  will  have  been  mv  wife  for  six  months!** 


CHAPTER  VIII 

A  MOST  opportune  lull  followed,  when  Harriet  Field 
had  time  to  collect  her  thoughts,  and  get  a  true  perspec- 
tive upon  the  events  of  the  past  week.  On  the  morning 
after  Ward's  departure  for  the  Bellamys'  camp  she 
had  come  downstairs  feeling  that  guilt  was  written  in 
her  face,  and  that  the  whole  household  must  suspect  her 
engagement  to  the  son  and  heir. 

But  on  the  contrary,  nobody  had  time  to  pay  her  the 
least  attention.  Nina  was  leaving  for  a  visit  to  Amy 
Hawkes,  at  the  extremely  dull  and  entirely  safe  Hawkes 
mansion,  where  four  unmarried  daughters  constituted 
a  chaperonage  beyond  all  criticism.  Isabelle  Carter  was 
giving  and  attending  the  usual  luncheons  and  dinners, 
her  husband  absorbed  in  an  especially  important 
business  deal  that  kept  him  alternate  nights  in  the  city. 
The  house  was  quiet,  the  domestic  machinery  running 
smoothly,  the  weather  hot,  sulphurous,  and  enervating. 

A  letter  from  Ward  brought  Harriet's  colour  suddenly 
to  her  cheeks,  on  the  third  morning,  but  there  was  no 
one  but  Rosa  to  notice  her  confusion.  Ward  wrote 
with  characteristic  boyishness.  They  were  having  a 
corking  time,  there  was  nobody  there  as  sweet  as  his  girl 
was,  and  he  hoped  that  she  missed  him  a  little  bit.  He 
was  thinking  about  her  every  minute,  and  how  beautiful 
she  was  that  last  night  on  the  terrace,  and  he  couldn't 
believe  his  luck,  or  understand  what  she  saw  in  him. 

104 


HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER  105 

There  were  seven  sheets  to  the  letter;  each  one  heavily 
engraved  with  the  name  of  the  camp,  "Sans  Souci," 
and  the  telephone,  post-office,  telegraph,  and  rail  direc- 
tions charmingly  represented  by  tiny  emblems  at  the 
top  of  the  letter-head.  Harriet  smiled  over  the  dashing 
sentences;  it  was  an  honest  letter.  She  felt  a  thrill 
of  genuine  affection  for  the  writer;  he  would  never  grow 
up  to  her,  but  she  would  make  him  an  ideal  wife  none- 
the-less.  She  went  about  his  father's  home,  in  these 
days,  with  a  secret  happiness  swelling  in  her  heart.  It 
would  not  be  long  now  before  the  secretary  and  com- 
panion must  take  a  changed  position  here.  It  was  not 
the  least  of  her  satisfactions  that  Ward  wrote  her  that 
Royal  was  at  the  camp,  planning  a  trip  to  the  Orient. 
But  before  he  went  he  talked  of  giving  a  studio  tea  for 
Nina.  "  I  think  he  is  slightly  mashed  on  the  kid,"  wrote 
Ward,  simply. 

With  Royal  in  China,  Nina  safely  recovering  from  her 
June  fever,  and  Harriet  affianced  to  Ward,  the  summer 
promised  serenely  enough.  Harriet  answered  the  letter 
in  her  happiest  vein.  Her  reply  was  but  two  conserva- 
tive pages;  but  she  said  more  in  the  double  sheet  of  fine 
English  handwriting  than  Ward  had  said  in  three  times 
as  much  space.  A  charming  letter  is  one  of  the  fruits 
of  loneliness  and  reading;  Harriet  was  sure  of  her  touch. 
His  father,  his  mother,  and  Nina  each  had  an  epigram- 
matic line  or  two,  and  for  his  grandmother  Harriet  dared 
a  little  wit,  and  smiled  to  imagine  his  shout  of  apprecia- 
tive laughter. 

She  dined  as  usual  alone,  that  evening,  and  was  sur- 
prised, at  about  eight  o'clock,  to  receive  the  demure 
notification  from  Rosa  that  Mrs.  Carter  would  like  to 


106  HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER 

see  her.  Harriet  glanced  at  a  mirror;  her  brassy  hair 
was  as  smoothly  moulded  as  its  tendency  to  curve  and 
ring  ever  permitted,  and  she  wore  a  thin  old  transparent 
white  gown  that  looked  at  least  comparatively  cool  on 
this  insufferably  hot  evening.  With  hardly  an  in- 
stant's delay  she  went  downstairs. 

On  the  terrace  outside  the  drawing-room  windows 
they  were  at  a  card  table:  Richard,  looking  tired  and  hot 
in  rumpled  white,  Isabelle  exquisite  in  silver  lace,  and 
young  Anthony  Pope.  Near  by,  Madame  Carter  majes- 
tically fingered  some  illustrated  magazines. 

It  appeared  that  they  wanted  bridge;  it  was  too  hot  to 
eat,  too  hot  to  dance  at  the  club,  too  hot — said  Isabelle 
pathetically — to  live!  Harriet  had  supposed  her  dining 
alone  with  her  infatuated  admirer,  but  it  appeared  that 
Richard  had  driven  his  mother  out  from  the  city  in  time 
to  join  them  for  salad  and  coffee,  and  that  this  angle  of 
the  terrace,  where  the  river  breeze  occasionally  stirred, 
was  the  only  spot  in  the  world  that  was  approximately 
comfortable. 

Obligingly,  Harriet  took  her  place,  cut  for  the  deal. 
But  her  eyes  had  not  fallen  upon  the  group  before  she 
sensed  that  something  was  wrong,  and  she  had  a  mo- 
ment's flutter  of  the  heart  for  fear  that  someone  sus- 
pected her,  that,  she  was  under  surveillance.  Had 
Royal — had  Ward 

She  turned  a  card,  took  the  deal,  found  Anthony 
Pope  her  partner,  and  entered  into  the  game  with  spirit. 
Richard's  first  words  to  her  were  reassuring;  if  there  was 
constraint  here,  she  was  not  involved  in  it. 

"No  trump — says  little  Miss  Field.  Well,  that 
doesn't  seem  to  frighten  me.  Two  spades." 


HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER  107 

"I  think  we  might  try  three  diamonds,  Miss  Field," 
Anthony  said,  gravely  and  pleasantly,  and  Harriet  felt 
herself  acquitted  of  any  apprehension  in  that  direction 
as  well.  It  only  remained  for  Isabelle  to  show  friend- 
liness. 

"Du  hast  diamonten  and  perlen,  you  two.  I  can 
see  that!  You're  down,  Harriet!"  Mrs.  Carter  said, 
thoughtfully.  Harriet  began  thoroughly  to  enjoy 
herself!  If  they  were  all  furious,  at  least  it  was  not  with 
her.  She  speculated,  as  she  gathered  in  her  tricks. 
Was  it  conceivable  that  Richard  did  not  enjoy  the  dis- 
covery of  the  tete-a-tete  dinner?  But  Isabelle  had 
often  been  equally  indiscreet,  and  he  had  never  seemed 
to  resent  it  before.  Harriet  knew  that  Isabelle  was  ill 
at  ease;  she  suspected  that  Tony  was  furious.  The 
old  lady  was  obviously  quivering  with  baffled  interest 
and  curiosity. 

In  the  little  pool  of  light  over  the  card  table  the  air 
seemed  to  grow  hotter  and  hotter;  there  was  suffocation 
in  the  velvet  darkness.  A  distant  rumble  of  thunder 
broke  heavily  on  the  silence,  the  sky  glimmered  with 
shaking  light,  and  the  great  leaves  of  the  sycamores 
turned  languidly  in  a  hot  breeze.  Harriet,  the  only 
interested  player,  was  unfortunate  with  Tony,  unfortu- 
nate with  Isabelle.  After  three  rubbers  the  game  ended 
suddenly;  Richard  said  he  had  some  letters  to  write, 
and  was  keeping  Fox  waiting  in  the  library;  Anthony 
scribbled  a  check,  said  brief  and  unfriendly  good-nights; 
Isabelle  merely  raised  passionate  dark  eyes  to  his.  She 
was  languidly  gathering  in  her  spoils  when  the  lights  of 
his  car  flashed  yellow  on  the  drive  and  he  was  gone. 
Harriet,  who  had  lost  more  than  twenty  dollars,  gave  a 


108  HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER 

rueful  laugh.  The  old  lady  watched  everyone  in  expect- 
ant silence. 

But  when  Richard  spoke  it  was  only  to  Harriet,  and 
then  in  an  undertone  almost  fatherly: 

"You  lose  no  money  when  we  ask  you  to  oblige  us  by 
playing,  my  dear.  I  won't  permit  that!  Twenty 
dollars  and  forty  cents,  was  it?  Consider  it  paid." 

"Oh,  but  truly—  "  she  was  beginning  to  protest. 
The  grave  look  in  his  eyes,  the  authoritative  nod,  inter- 
rupted her,  and  with  a  pleasant  little  sensation  of  pro- 
tection and  of  friendliness  she  had  to  concede  the  point. 
Immediately  afterward  he  said  good-night  to  his 
mother  and  wife,  and  went  in  to  his  study.  Madame 
Carter  followed  him  in,  and  went  upstairs,  but  Isabelle 
sat  on  moodily  shuffling  and  reshuffling  the  cards,  in 
the  bright  soft  light  of  the  terrace  lamps. 

"Wait  a  minute,  Harriet,"  she  said,  briefly,  and 
Harriet  obediently  loitered.  But  Isabelle  seemed  to 
have  nothing  to  say.  Her  eyes  were  on  the  cards,  her 
beautiful  breast,  exposed  in  the  low-cut  silver  gown,  rose 
and  fell  stormily,  and  Harriet  saw  that  she  was  biting 
her  full  under  lip,  as  if  anger  seethed  strong  within  her. 
In  the  gleam  of  the  lamps  her  dark  hair  took  the  shine 
of  lacquer;  there  were  jewelled  combs  in  it  to-night,  and 
the  jewels  winked  lazily. 

Bottomley,  the  butler,  came  out,  and  began  discreetly 
to  adjust  chairs  and  to  supervise  the  carrying  away  of 
ashtrays  and  coffee-cups. 

"Come  upstairs  to  my  room;  I  want  to  speak  to  you!" 
Isabelle  said,  suddenly.  Harriet  followed  her  upstairs, 
and  they  entered  the  beautiful  boudoir  together.  Here 
Isabelle  dropped  into  a  chair,  sitting  sidewise,  with  one 


HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER  109 

bare  arm  locked  across  its  rococo  back,  and  stared  dully 
ahead  of  her,  a  queen  of  tragedy.  Her  silver  scarf 
fluttered  free,  and  the  toe  of  a  spangled  slipper  beat  with 
an  angry,  steady  throb  on  the  floor. 

Germaine  came  forward,  evidently  more  accustomed 
to  this  mood  than  Harriet  was.  Like  a  flash  the  high- 
heeled  shoes,  the  silver  gown,  and  the  brocaded  stays 
were  whisked  away,  and  a  cool,  loose  silk  robe  enveloped 
Isabelle,  and  she  took  a  deep,  cretonned  chair  by  the 
window.  The  lights  were  lowered,  Isabelle  nodded 
Harriet  to  the  opposite  chair.  Then  at  last  she  spoke. 

"Can  that  creature  hear?" 

Harriet,  thrilled,  glanced  toward  the  dressing  room, 
and  shook  her  head. 

"I  ask  you,"  said  Isabelle,  with  a  great  breath  of 
anger  restrained,  "I  ask  you  if  any  woman  in  the  world 
could  stand  it!" 

"I  knew  something  was  wrong,"  Harriet  murmured, 
as  the  other  made  a  dramatic  pause. 

"Wrong!"  Isabelle  echoed,  scornfully.  "You  saw 
the  way  Mr.  Carter  acted.  You  saw  him  make  me 
ridiculous — make  a  fool  of  me!  The  boy  will  never 
come  to  the  house  again." 

"Oh,  I  don't  think  that!"  Harriet  said,  in  honesty. 

"Mr.  Carter  stalked  in  upon  us,  at  dinner —  "  his 
wife  said,  broodingly.  She  fell  into  thought,  and  sud- 
denly burst  out,  "Harriet,  my  heart  aches  for  that  boy! 
My  God — my  God — what  have  I  done  to  him!" 

She  rested  her  white  full  arms  on  the  dressing  table, 
and  covered  her  face  with  her  hands.  Harriet  saw  the 
frail  silk  of  the  dressing  gown  stir  with  her  sudden  dry 
sobbing. 


110  HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER 

"My  God — if  I  could  cry!"  Isabella  said,  turning. 
And  Harriet  realized,  with  a  shock,  that  she  was  not 
acting.  "Mr.  Carter  only  sees  what  I  see,"  she  added, 
"that  it  must  stop.  But  I  am  afraid  it  will  kill  him. 
He  isn't  like  other  men.  He —  '  She  opened  a  drawer, 
fumbled  therein.  "Read  that!"  she  said. 

Harriet  took  the  sheet  of  paper,  pressed  it  open. 

"'My  heart,'  "  she  read,  in  Tony  Pope's  handwriting. 
"  *I  will  go  away  from  you  if  I  must.  But  it  will  be 
further  than  India,  Isabelle,  further  than  Rio  or  Alaska. 
While  we  two  live,  I  must  see  you  sometimes.  Perhaps 
outside  the  world  there  is  a  place  big  enough  for  me 
to  forget  you ! ' ' 

"Now !"  said  Isabelle,  rising  and  beginning  rest- 
lessly to  walk  the  floor.  "Now,  what  shall  I  do?  Send 
him  away  to  his  death,  or  risk  Mr.  Carter's  insulting 
him  again,  as  he  did  to-night!  Anthony  Pope  means  it, 
Harriet — I  know  him  well  enough  for  that.  His  whole 
life  is  one  thought  of  me.  The  flowers,  the  books,  the 
notes — he  only  wakes  in  the  morning  to  hope  for,  to 
plan,  a  meeting,  and  the  days  when  we  don't  meet  are 
lost  days.  You  don't  know  how  I've  been  worrying 
about  it,"  said  Isabelle,  passionately,  "I'm  sick  with 
worry!" 

She  fell  silent.  Germaine  appeared  with  a  tray,  and 
began  to  loosen  and  brush  the  dark  hair,  and  Isabelle 
went  automatically  to  the  business  of  creaming  and 
rubbing,  still  shaken,  but  every  minute  more  mistress 
of  herself.  With  the  thick,  dark  switch  gone,  Harriet  was 
almost  shocked  by  the  change  in  the  severely  exposed 
forehead  and  face.  Isabelle  looked  fully  her  age  now, 
more  than  her  age.  But  the  younger  woman  knew  that 


HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER  111 

however  honest  her  desire  to  disenchant  her  young 
lover,  no  woman  ever  risks  his  seeing  her  thus.  Isabelle 
might  weep,  and  pray,  and  suggest  supreme  sacrifice, 
but  it  would  be  the  corseted  and  perfumed  and  beauti- 
ful Isabelle  from  whom  Tony  parted,  whom  Tony  must 
renounce. 

"Well!"  said  the  mistress,  sombre-eyed  still,  and 
with  a  still  heaving  breast.  "There  was  something 
else,  Harriet—  -  Gently,  please,  Germaine,  my  head 
aches  frightfully.  Oh,  Harriet,  will  you  see  what  this 
Blondin  man  wants  with  Nina?  She  tells  me  he  sug- 
gested some  sort  of  summer  party  in  his  roof  garden;  I 
don't  know  quite  what  it  is.  But  her  heart  is  set  on  it. 
They  seem  to  understand  each  other — I  always  felt  that 
when  Nina's  affairs  did  begin,  she  would  pick  out  freaks 
like  this!  But,"  Nina's  mother  sighed,  resignedly, 
"that's  all  right.  He's  interesting,  and  everyone's 

after  him,  and  if  it  pleases  her !     And  will  you  go  to 

the  Hawkes'  for  her  in  the  morning?  Hansen  is  going 
at — I  don't  know  what  time,  in  the  big  car.  Don't — 
Germaine  had  gone  to  the  bathroom  for  a  hot  towel, 
and  Isabelle  dropped  her  voice,  almost  affectionately — 
"don't  worry  about  this  little  scene,  Harriet.  It  will 
be  quite  all  right!" 

"Oh,  surely!"  The  companion's  voice  was  light  and 
cheerful;  she  went  upstairs  only  pleasantly  excited  and 
thrilled.  And  at  the  breakfast  table  next  morning 
Harriet  could  show  the  head  of  the  house  the  same 
bright  assurance.  She  was  young.  Life  was  like  a 
fascinating  play.  Richard  had  come  downstairs  early, 
and  they  had  their  coffee  alone. 

"Nina?"  asked  her  father. 


112  HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER 

"She  comes  back  to-day,"  Harriet  said.  "Mrs. 
Carter  is  going  to  have  her  masseuse,  so  she  won't  be 
down.  She  asked  you  to  remember  that  you  are  dining 
at  the  Jays'  to-morrow.  There's  to  be  tennis  at  about 
four." 

"Finals,"  he  said,  nodding.  "Jim  Kelsoe  and  one  of 
the  Irvins 

"Judson  Irwin,"  the  girl  supplied. 

"Was  it?"  Richard  Carter  went  out  to  his  car  ap- 
parently well  pleased  with  himself  and  his  life.  Harriet 
started  for  the  Hawkes'  with  a  philosophic  reflection 
or  two  as  to  the  ephemeral  quality  of  married  quarrels. 

She  brought  Nina  back  at  noon,  a  garrulous  and  com- 
placent Nina,  who  could  pity  the  elder  Hawkes  as  girls 
who  "never  had  admirers."  When  they  reached  the 
driveway  of  Crownlands,  Harriet  recognized  the  car 
that  was  already  there,  and  said  to  herself  that  Anthony 
Pope  would  join  them  for  luncheon.  But  just  as  she 
and  Nina  were  about  to  enter  the  cool,  wide,  dark  door- 
way, Anthony  himself  passed  them.  He  was  almost 
running,  and  apparently  did  not  see  them.  He  ran  down 
the  shallow  steps  and  sprang  into  his  car,  which  scat- 
tered a  spray  of  gravel  as  he  jerked  it  madly  about,  and 
was  gone  before  she  and  Nina  had  ended  their  look  of  sur- 
prise. Harriet  detected  a  magnificent  astonishment  in 
Bottomley's  mild  elderly  glance  as  well;  she  went 
slowly  uostairs,  with  a  dim  foreboding  far  back  in  her 
heart. 

In  Nina's  room  were  three  flowers  from  Royal 
Blondin.  Nina  said  hastily,  and  in  rapture:  "Water 
lilies!"  but  a  ten-year-old  memory  told  Harriet  that 
they  were  lotus  blooms.  Another  girl  had  had  lotus 


HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER  113 

blooms  years  ago;  Harriet  wondered  if  Royal  always 
sent  them  to  the  women  he  admired,  or  rather,  to  the 
one  whose  favour  was,  for  the  moment,  to  his  advantage. 

Nina  had  no  such  thoughts.  Radiantly  and  amazedly 
she  turned  to  Harriet. 

"Oh,  Miss  Harriet,  look!  They're  from  Mr.  Blondin! 
Oh,  I  do  think  that  is  terribly  nice  of  him.  The  idea! 
The  idea!  We  were  speaking  of  a  poem  called  'The 
Lotus  Flower'.  Did  you  ever?  I  think  that  is  terribly 
decent  of  him,  don't  you  ?  Shan't  I  write  him  ?  Would 
you?  Hadn't  I  better  write  him  right  now?  Will  you 
help  me?  I  do  think  that  is  terribly  decent  of  him, 
don't  you?" 

And  so  on  indefinitely.  Harriet  felt  rather  sorry  for 
the  gauche  little  creature  who  flung  aside  her  hat  and 
wrap,  and  sat  biting  her  gold  pen-handle,  and  spoiling 
sheet  after  sheet  of  paper.  But  there  was  protection 
in  Nina's  absorption,  too;  she  was  far  too  happy  to 
know  or  care  that  Harriet  felt  somewhat  worried,  or  to 
make  any  comment  when  they  went  down  to  lunch  to 
find  that  Isabelle  begged  to  be  excused.  They  lunched 
alone  with  the  old  lady. 

At  about  three,  when  the  important  note  was  written, 
and  Harriet  and  Nina  were  idling  on  the  shady  terrace, 
with  the  hound,  the  new  magazines,  and  their  books, 
Hansen  brought  one  of  the  small  closed  cars  to  the  side 
door.  Five  minutes  later  Isabelle,  in  a  thin  white  coat, 
a  veiled  white  hat,  and  with  a  gorgeous  white-furred 
wrap  over  her  arm,  came  out.  Germaine  was  with  her, 
carrying  two  shiny  black  suitcases.  Isabelle,  Harriet 
thought,  looked  superbly  handsome,  but  Germaine  had 
evidently  been  scolded,  and  had  red  eyes. 


114  HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER 

Isabella  came  over  to  give  her  daughter  a  farewell 
kiss. 

"Mrs.  Webb  has  telephoned  for  me,  ducky.  Your 
father  isn't  coming  home  to-night,  but  have  a  happy 
time  with  Miss  Harriet,  and  I'll  be  back  in  a  day  or  two." 

"I  thought  that  you  were  dining  to-morrow  at  the 
Jays'!"  Harriet  said.  That  she  had  not  been  mistaken 
did  not  occur  to  her  until  she  saw  the  colour  flood 
Isabelle's  face. 

"I  forgot  it.  But  I  wonder  if  JTOU  will  be  sweet 
enough  to  telephone  to-morrow  morning,  and  say  that 
I  am  obliging  an  old  friend?"  Isabelle  said,  smoothly. 
"I  shall  be  with  Mrs.  Webb  in  Great  Barrington, 
Harriet.  She  made  it  a  personal  favour,  and  I  couldn't 
refuse!  Good-bye,  both  of  you.  All  right,  Hansen!" 

They  swept  away,  leaving  Harriet  with  a  strange 
sense  of  nervousness  and  suspense.  The  summer  air 
seemed  charged  with  menace,  and  the  silence  that  fol- 
lowed the  noise  of  the  car  oddly  ominous.  She  looked 
about  nervously;  Nina  was  drifting  through  Vanity 
Fair,  the  sun  was  warm,  and  the  air  sweet  and  still. 
But  still  her  heart  was  beating  madly,  and  she  felt 
frightened  and  ill  at  ease. 

Madame  Carter  was  on  the  terrace  when  they  came 
back  at  five  from  an  idle  trip  to  the  club,  reporting  that 
her  son  had  just  returned  unexpectedly  from  the  city, 
and  had  gone  in  to  change  for  golf. 

Nothing  alarming  here,  yet  Harriet  experienced  a  sick 
thrill  of  apprehension.  Something  abnormal  seemed  to 
be  the  matter  with  them  all  this  afternoon ! 

"Did  you  call  me,  Mr.  Carter?"  She  hardly  knew 
her  own  voice,  as  he  came  down  the  three  broad  steps 


HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER  115 

from  the  house.  Her  hands  felt  cold,  and  she  was  trem- 
bling. 

"Do  you  happen  to  know  where  Hansen  is,  Miss 
Field?" 

"Driving  Mrs.  Carter  to  the  Webbs'  at  Great  Har- 
rington," the  girl  answered,  readily.  "Will  young 
Burke  do?  Mrs>.  Webb  telephoned,  and  Mrs.  Carter 
left  in  a  hurry.  She  did  not  expect  you  to-night.  Han- 
sen  ought  to  be  back  at  about  seven,  I  should  think " 

He  was  not  listening  to  her;  abruptly  left  her.  When 
Harriet  went  into  the  house  she  saw  nothing  of  him. 
But  she  knew  he  had  not  gone  away  for  the  usual  golf, 
and  was  conscious  still  of  that  odd  fluttering  of  mind 
and  soul,  that  presage  of  ill.  She  made  her  usual  little 
round,  spoke  briefly  to  a  maid  about  some  fallen  daisy 
petals,  consulted  with  the  housekeeper  as  to  the  new 
cretonne  covers.  A  man  was  to  come  and  measure 
those  covers  this  very  afternoon — perhaps  this  was  he, 
modestly  waiting  at  the  side  door. 

But  no,  this  man  briefly  and  simply  asked  to  be 
shown  to  Mr.  Carter,  remarking  that  he  was  expected. 
He  disappeared  into  the  library;  Harriet  saw  no  more 
of  him  for  an  hour,  when  he  silently  appeared  beside 
her,  and  asked  to  see  the  chauffeur  Hansen  as  soon  as 
he  came. 

Richard  brought  the  strange  man  to  the  dinner  table; 
but  there  was  nothing  in  that  to  make  the  dinner  so  un- 
natural. To  be  sure  Richard  ate  little,  and  spoke  hardly 
at  all;  but  this  Mr.  Williams  was  quite  entertaining, 
and  the  old  lady  in  good  spirits.  Nina,  pleased  at  being 
downstairs,  as  she  and  Harriet  usually  were  when  her 
father  and  mother  were  not  at  home,  or  when  there  was 


116  HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER 

no  company,  also  contributed  some  shy  remarks.  But 
Harriet  was  beset  with  sudden  fits  of  nervousness,  and 
oppressed  by  a  heavy  sense  of  impending  disaster.  She 
said  to  herself  that  she  wished  heartily  the  weather 
would  break  and  clear,  she  felt  like  "a  witch." 

At  eight  Hansen  was  back,  presenting  himself  in  his 
dusty  road-coat ;  Mr.  Carter  immediately  drew  him  with 
Williams  into  the  library.  Nina  loitered  up  to  bed, 
but  the  old  lady  and  Harriet  remained  downstairs. 
They  did  not  like,  but  they  sometimes  amused,  each 
other.  Suddenly  came  the  summons:  would  Miss 
Field  please  step  into  the  library? 

Hansen  was  going  out  as  she  came  in;  Richard  was 
at  the  big  flat-topped  desk,  the  man  Williams  standing 
somewhat  in  shadow.  Harriet's  heart  leaped;  they 
were  going  to  ask  her  about  Royal. 

"Just  a  moment,  Miss  Field,"  Richard  said.  "Will 
you  sit  down?"  And  as  Harriet,  looking  at  him  in 
frightened  curiosity,  did  so,  he  began  quietly:  "We 
are  in  some  trouble  here,  Miss  Field.  I  hardly  know 
how  to  tell  you  what  we  fear.  Did  you  notice  anything 
strange  about — Mrs.  Carter's — manner  to-day?" 

"I  thought  I  did,"  Harriet  admitted. 

"Did  you  think  of  any  reason  for  it?" 

Harriet  gave  the  stranger  a  glance  that  made  him  an 
eavesdropper. 

"I  fancied  that  it  was  connected  with — with  what 
distressed  her  last  night,  Mr.  Carter." 

"You  may  speak  before  Mr.  Williams,"  Richard  said. 
He  looked  down;  was  silent.  "I  asked  him  to  help 
me,"  he  added,  slowly.  "Was  young  Mr.  Pope  here 
to-day?" 


HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER  117 

k 

"This  morning,  I  don't  know  how  long,"  Harriet 
said,  with  a  great  light,  or  darkness,  breaking  in  upon 
her  mind,  "he  was  leaving  when  Nina  and  I  came 
home." 

Richard  gravely  considered  this,  and  nodded  his  head. 

"And  immediately  afterward  Mrs.  Carter  went 
away  ? " 

"Not  immediately.     Not  until  three." 

"Do  you  know  who  took  the  telephone  call  from  Mrs. 
Webb?  "Richard  said. 

*'  No,  because  nobody  did.  No  person  named  Webb 
called  from  Great  Barrington,  or  anywhere  else,  to-day," 
said  Williams,  breaking  in  decidedly,  his  voice  a  con- 
trast to  Richard's  hesitating  tones.  "As  a  matter  of 
fact,  Hansen  didn't  drive  to  Great  Barrington.  Two 
miles  from  your  gate  here,  Mrs.  Carter  gave  him  other 
directions." 

"What  directions?"  Harriet  asked,  antagonized  by 
his  manner,  and  feeling  her  cheeks  get  red.  The  man 
evidently  had  small  respect  for  womanhood. 

"He  drove  to  New  London,"  Richard  supplied. 
"Pope's  yacht  is  there." 

His  manner  was  very  quiet,  he  spoke  almost  wearily, 
but  Harriet  felt  as  if  a  cannon  had  exploded  in  the  study. 
She  turned  white,  looked  toward  Williams,  whose 
mouth  was  pursed  in  a  silent  whistle,  looked  back  at 
Richard,  who  was  making  idle  pencil  marks  on  a  tablet 
of  paper. 

"I've  had  New  London  on  the  wire,"  said  Mr. 
Williams.  "Mr.  Pope  had  been  getting  ready  for  a 
cruise.  The  chances  are  that  they  have  already  weighed 
anchor." 


118  HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER 

"On  the  other  hand,"  Richard  said,  glancing  at  his 
watch,  "we  have  an  excellent  prospect  of  finding  them 
there.  I  was  not  supposed  to  come  home  until  to- 
morrow night.  I  found  Mrs.  Carter's  message  at  five, 
twenty-four  hours  earlier  than  she  expected  me  to. 
Williams  may  be  mistaken,  of  course,"  he  finished,  with 
a  glance  at  the  detective. 

"Not  likely!"  said  Williams,  with  a  modest  shrug. 

"However,  even  if  he  is  right,"  Richard  resumed, 
"the  chances  are  that  they  are  still  there,  and  if  they 
are,  I  will  bring — my  wife  back  with  me  to-night.  Mean- 
while, I  leave  the  house  in  your  care,  Miss  Field.  I 
needn't  tell  you  that  my  mother  and  Nina  must  be  kept 
absolutely  ignorant  of  what  we  suspect.  You'll  know 
what  to  tell  them,  in  case  I  should  be  longer  away.  If 
our  calculations  are  wrong,  there's  no  telling  where  I 
may  follow  Mrs.  Carter.  I  leave  this  end  of  things 
to  you!" 

The  trust  he  placed  in  her,  and  something  tired  and 
patient  in  his  tone,  brought  the  tears  to  Harriet's  eyes. 

"I'm  sorrier  than  I  can  say,"  she  said,  huskily. 

"I  know  you  are!  It's — "  Richard  passed  his  hand 
over  his  forehead — "it's  utter  madness,  of  course. 
But,  please  God,  we  can  keep  it  all  hushed  up.  She 
has  Germaine  with  her;  Hansen  I  can  trust.  We're 
off  now,  Miss  Field.  I'll  keep  you  informed  if  I  can." 

Harriet  went  back  to  the  drawing  room  with  her  heart 
big  with  pride.  He  had  mentioned  Hansen  and  Ger- 
maine, but  he  knew  that  he  could  trust  her!  The  event 
was  sensational  enough,  was  horrifying  enough.  But 
back  of  the  excitement  lay  the  joy  of  being  needed  and 
being  trusted. 


HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER  119 

"Mr.  Carter  going  away  again?"  said  Madame 
Carter. 

"Mr.  Williams  came  up  from  the  city  to  consult  him 
about  something,"  Harriet  explained,  smoothly.  "They 
may  have  to  go  back." 

"To-night!"  ejaculated  the  old  lady.  And  immedi- 
ately she  added,  suspiciously,  "  What'd  he  want  Hansen 
for?" 

"  Doctor  and  Mrs.  Houghton,"  Bottomley  announced, 
in  his  soothing  undertone.  Harriet  could  have  em- 
braced the  uninteresting  elderly  couple  who  entered 
smilingly.  They  beamed  that  it  was  so  hot — they  were 
going  up  to  the  club;  couldn't  the  Carters  join  them? 

"Mrs.  Carter  went  to  visit  a  friend  in  Great  Barring- 
ton,"  Madame  Carter  explained,  "and  my  son  has  one 
of  his  clerks  here,  and  may  have  to  return  to  the  office 
to-night.  Too  bad!" 

"But  how  about  another  lesson  in  bridge,  Doctor 
Houghton?"  Harriet  ventured.  The  old  wife  was  in- 
stantly enthusiastic. 

"Yes,  now,  Doctor!  This  is  a  splendid  chance,  for 
I  know  Madame  Carter  isn't  too  good  a  player  to  be 
patient." 

"I  don't  want  to  bore  this  pretty  girl  to  death!"  pro- 
tested the  old  man,  gallantly.  But  Harriet  had  already 
signalled  the  attentive  Bottomley,  and  when  Richard 
Carter  came  to  say  good-night  a  few  minutes  later  they 
were  on  the  terrace,  and  hilarious  over  the  beginner's 
mistakes.  Even  Madame  Carter  enjoyed  this;  she  was 
a  poor  player,  but  she  shone  beside  the  Houghtons,  and 
Harriet  took  care  to  consult  her  respectfully,  and  agree 
seriously  as  to  bids  and  leads. 


120  HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER 

"Good-night,  Mother!"  said  Richard,  touching  with 
his  lips  the  cool  old  forehead,  next  to  the  white  hair. 
"Wish  I  could  play  with  you  fellers  and  girls!" 

"You!"  said  old  Mrs.  Houghton,  archly.  "You'd 
scare  us  to  death!" 

Richard  went  smiling  to  the  car,  hearing  Harriet 
murmur  as  he  went:  "I  think  he  has  a  two  heart  bid, 
don't  you  Madame  Carter?  You  bid  two  hearts, 
Doctor.  .  .  ." 

* 


CHAPTER  IX 

THAT  Isabella's  madness  would  run  its  full  gamut  did 
not  occur  to  Harriet  until  the  next  day.  Then,  as  the 
serene  hours  moved  by,  and  there  was  no  word  and  no 
sign  from  Richard,  the  possibilities  began  to  suggest 
themselves.  It  seemed  to  her  incredible  that  any  woman 
would  risk  all  that  Isabelle  had,  for  the  sake  of  a  fiery 
boy's  first  love,  and  yet,  on  the  other  hand,  there  was 
the  memory  of  Isabelle's  suffering  two  nights  ago,  and 
here  were  the  amazing  facts  to  prove  it. 

The  girl  went  about  in  a  dream,  sometimes  imagining 
the  meeting  of  husband  and  wife,  sometimes  trying  to 
fancy  Isabelle  with  her  lover.  As  was  inevitable,  the 
older  woman  seemed  to  lose  something  charming  and 
intangible  in  this  confession  of  definite  weakness.  To 
be  adored  by  any  man  merely  adds  to  her  glory,  but 
the  instant  she  concedes  him  an  inch,  the  Beauty  throws 
down  her  halo,  the  whole  affair  becomes  mundane  and 
vulnerable.  Harriet  might  have  envied  Isabelle  once, 
now  she  saw  her  frail,  forty,  her  woman's  pride  weak- 
ened by  admitted  passion,  and  was  sorry  for  her.  She 
had  had  all  men  at  her  feet,  now  she  must  feel  herself 
fortunate  if  she  could  hold  one. 

And  with  Isabelle's  shame  came  a  wholesome  sting 
of  shame  to  Isabelle's  companion.  Harriet  had  seen 
nothing  harmful  in  this  affair  a  few  days  ago;  it  was 
the  way  of  this  world  of  theirs.  But  she  felt  within  her 

121 


122  HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER 

now  the  awakening  of  something  clean  and  stern;  she 
found  in  her  mind  odd  phrases  and  terms — "a  married 
woman's  duty,"  "her  sense  of  honour,"  "owing  it  to 
her  husband  and  children." 

It  was  for  few  women  to  enjoy  the  popularity  that 
Isabelle  had  known.  But  any  woman  might  run  away 
with  a  rich  admirer.  Harriet's  admiration  for  the 
cleverness  with  which  Isabelle  conducted  this  pretty 
playing  with  fire  disappeared,  and  in  its  place  came 
the  sharp  conviction  that  old-fashioned  women  like 
Linda  had  some  justification,  after  all;  it  was  "danger- 
ous," it  did  "lead  to  sin,"  it  could  indeed  "happen 
once  too  often." 

Harriet  felt  her  own  lapsing  morality  regaining  its 
standard.  Just  now,  when  Nina  most  needed  her 
mother,  when  Richard  was  struggling  with  difficult 
business  conditions,  when  Ward  was  engaged 

She  interrupted  her  thoughts  here,  and  tried  to  make 
herself  feel  like  a  woman  engaged  to  be  married.  Some- 
how the  fact  persisted  in  baffling  her.  There  was  an 
unreality  about  it  that  prevented  her  from  tasting  the 
full  sweet.  Engaged — to  a  rich  man,  and  a  rich  man's 
son.  Well,  perhaps  when  Ward  came  back,  it  would 
seem  more  believable. 

But  Ward  might  come  back  to  a  changed  home. 
Harriet  fancied  a  quiet  wedding,  herself  afterward  as  the 
true  head  of  the  disorganized  family.  She  would  be 
Nina's  natural  chaperon,  then,  her  father-in-law's — for 
Richard  would  be  that! — natural  confidante.  The 
prospect,  and  every  hour  of  this  warm  and  silent  day 
seemed  to  make  it  more  definite,  brought  the  wild-rose 
colour  to  her  face,  and  made  her  heart  beat  faster.  It  was 


3 

-si 


^ 

<xo 


HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER  123 

certainly  a  life  full  and  gratifying  beyond  her  dreaming, 
and  it  was  almost  settled  now!  If  Ward  did  not  figure 
very  prominently  in  this  bright  dream,  she  told  herself 
that  Ward  should  have  no  cause  for  grievance.  He 
should  always  be  first  in  everything;  but  if  his  wife  en- 
joyed her  position,  her  connections,  her  place  in  the 
family,  surely  there  was  no  harm  in  that!  There  was 
but  one  stumbling  block:  Royal  Blondin.  Her  heart 
stopped  at  him. 

She  had  been  standing  at  one  of  the  hall  windows,  a 
window  deep  set  in  the  brick  wall,  and  commanding 
through  elms  and  beeches  the  path  to  the  tennis  court. 
Down  this  path  Nina  and  Francesca  Jay  had  recently 
disappeared,  with  their  rackets,  for  some  practice.  The 
sun  was  high,  and  the  sky  cloudless;  under  the  trees 
there  was  a  softly  mottled  pattern  of  light  and  shade. 
Outside  the  window  the  hound  was  lying,  his  nose  on 
his  paws,  his  eyes  shut.  Harriet  remembered  walking 
in  such  a  summer  wood,  years  and  years  ago,  a  little 
girl  with  yellow  braids,  holding  tight  to  her  mother's 
hand.  They  had  sat  down  on  the  ground,  and  her 
mother  and  father  had  talked,  and  the  little  girl  had  lain 
on  her  back  for  what  seemed  hours,  looking  at  the  sky. 

There  seemed  to  be  no  time  for  idle  walks  and  dream- 
ing in  the  woods  nowadays.  Harriet  had  been  four 
years  at  Crownlands,  and  had  looked  out  at  this  wood  a 
thousand  times,  but  she  had  never  lost  herself  in  it,  or 
lain  staring  up  through  branches  there.  She  was  always 
too  busy:  the  business  of  eating,  and  of  amusing  the 
others,  and  of  keeping  the  machinery  moving,  had 
always  absorbed  her.  Personalities,  microscopic  buzzing 
of  midges,  had  blotted  out  the  beautiful  arches  and 


124  HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER 

aisles;  and  if  ever  Harriet  walked  through  the  wood  now, 
she  was  with  chattering  women;  she  was  wondering  if 
this  one,  or  that  one,  or  the  other  one,  was  hurt,  or 
neglected,  or  piqued,  was  paired  with  the  wrong  person, 
or  had  really  intended  the  meaning  that  might  be  read 
into  a  look  or  tone. 

Hands  pressed  her  eyes  tight,  and  she  came 

back  to  the  present  moment  with  a  start.  Ward 
Carter  was  behind  her.  He  laughed  at  her  confusion, 
and  they  sat  down  on  the  window  seat  together.  Yes, 
he  was  going  back  to  the  Bellamys',  and  so  was  Blondin, 
but  they  had  both  come  in  just  for  lunch  and  the  drive. 
They  had  driven  a  hundred  and  twenty  miles  that 
morning,  what  ?  And  they  were  going  to  drive  back  that 
afternoon,  what-what  ?  And  how  about  eats,  old  dear  ? 

Instantly  he  brought  reassurance  to  her.  Ward  was 
such  a  dear!  Of  course  she  loved  him. 

"But  you  weren't  a  very  good  boy  last  night!"  she 
said.  Their  hands  were  locked;  but  she  had  shaken  a 
negative  when  he  would  have  kissed  her.  Bottomley 
was  everywhere  at  once. 

"Rotten!"  he  confessed,  easily.  "I  played  poker, 
too.  No  man  ought  to  do  that  when  he's  edged. 
Sorry — sorry — sorry.  Bad,  bad,  bad  little  Edward! 
I  lost  two  hundred  to  Bates,  a  curse  upon  him.  But 
that  was  nothing;  once,  there,  I  was  over  twelve  hun- 
dred in.  Listen.  When  we're  married  it's  all  off. 
No  smoking,  drinking,  gambling,  wine,  women,  or  song, 
what?" 

"You  may  not  know  it,  but  you  never  spoke  a  truer 
word!"  the  girl  said.  His  shout  of  laughter  was  pleas- 
ant to  hear. 


HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER  125 

"Listen.  Does  the  Mater  know  it?  About  us,  I 
mean?" 

"Oh,  Ward — nobody  knows  it!  Hush!"  His  men- 
tion of  his  mother  brought  back  realization  with  a  rush, 
and  she  added  uncomfortably,  "She's  at  Great  Barring- 
ton." 

"Oh,  darn!  I  wanted  to  see  her!  She  wrote  me,  and 
told  me  she  loved  me,  and  that  she  didn't  think  she  had 
been  a  very  good  mother  to  me ! "  He  laughed,  youthfully, 
with  a  bewildered  widening  of  his  eyes.  "  I  thought  she 
was  sick.  Well,  maybe  we  can  stop  there  going  back." 

"Where  did  you  leave  Mr.  Blondin?" 

"He  beat  it  down  to  the  tennis  court.  Say,  listen,  is 
there  a  chance  that  he's  stuck  on  Nina?  It  looks  to  me 
like  what  the  watch  comes  in!" 

Harriet  glanced  at  her  wrist  before  she  answered  him. 
Her  heart  was  sick  within  her.  Close  upon  her  radiant 
dream  had  come  this  shadow,  far  more  a  shadow  now, 
when  her  responsibility  had  infinitely  increased,  and 
when  she  had  had  proof  of  the  love  and  respect  in  which 
they  held  her  here. 

"I  don't  think  so!"  she  said,  briefly.  "I'll  find 
Bottomley,  and  have  lunch  put  ahead." 

"You  don't  like  him!"  Ward  said,  watching  her 
closely. 

"I  don't  like  him  for  Nina!"  she  amended. 

The  boy  followed  her  while  she  gave  her  order. 
Then  they  went  out  into  the  blazing  day  together. 

"Nina  isn't  going  to  have  more  than  a  scalp  a  day," 
said  her  brother,  fraternally. 

"Nina  has  a  fortune!"  the  girl  remarked,  drily,  open- 
ing her  wide  white  parasol. 


126  HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER 

But  Ward  was  rapidly  squandering  an  equal  amount, 
and  it  was  not  impressive  to  him. 

"Lord,  he  could  marry  a  girl  with  ten  times  that! 
Look  here,  you  don't  think  a  man  like  Blondin  would 
consider  that!"  he  protested. 

"I  would  rather  see  Nina  dead  and  buried!"  The 
words  burst  from  Harriet  against  her  will,  against  her 
promise  to  Royal.  There  was  no  help  for  it,  her 
essential  honesty  would  have  its  way.  "I  make  a 
splendid  conspirator!"  she  said  to  herself,  in  grim  self- 
contempt. 

"Talk  to  him!"  Ward,  fortunately,  was  not  inclined 
to  take  her  too  seriously.  "You'll  like  him!  Gosh,  he 
certainly  has  a  good  effect  on  me,"  added  the  youth, 
modestly.  "He  doesn't  drink,  and  he  talks  to  me — you 
ought  to  hear  him! — about  character  being  fate,  and  all 
that !  Say,  listen,  before  we  get  out  of  the  woods ? " 

His  sudden  sense  of  her  nearness  and  beauty  belied 
the  careless  words.  Harriet  found  his  arms  tight 
about  her,  her  face  tipped  up  to  the  young,  handsome 
face  that  was  stirred  now  with  trembling  excitement. 
The  quick  movement  of  his  breast  she  could  feel  against 
her  own,  and  the  passion  of  his  kisses  almost  frightened 
her;  she  was  held,  bound,  half-lifted  off  her  feet. 

"Ward!"  she  gasped,  freed  at  last,  and  with  one 
hand  to  her  disordered  hair,  while  the  other  held  him  at 
arm's-length.  "  Dear !  Please  !  " 

It  was  no  use.  Soul  and  senses  were  enveloped  again, 
and  close  to  her  ear  she  heard  his  whisper:  "I'm  mad 
about  you!  Do  you  know  that!  I'm  mad  about 
you!"  ' 

"I  think  you  are!"  she  stammered,  breathless  and 


HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER  127 

laughing.  "You  mustn't  do  that!  You  mustn't  do 
that!  Why,  we  might  be  seen!" 

Breathless,  too,  he  flung  back  his  hair,  and  stooped 
to  pick  up  her  parasol. 

"Do  you  think  I  care!"  he  panted,  indifferently.  "I 
wouldn't  care  if  the  whole  world  saw!" 

"  Sh — sh ! "  By  the  magic  only  known  to  youth  and 
womanhood  Harriet  had  gathered  herself  into  trimness 
and  calm  again.  She  took  her  parasol  composedly. 
Her  eyes  told  him  the  whole  story.  Nina  and  Royal 
Blondin  were  two  hundred  feet  away,  coming  up  from 
the  tennis  court. 

The  four  met  cheerfully;  apparently  all  at  ease. 
Nina  was  stammering  and  blushing  a  trifle  more  than 
usual,  but  Royal's  presence  would  account  for  that. 
Ward  burst  into  a  stream  of  idiotic  conversation; 
Harriet  found  herself  sauntering  ahead  of  the  young 
Carters,  discussing  Sheringham  fans  with  the  dilletant. 

"You  fool — fool — fool!"  she  said  to  herself.  What 
had  they  seen  ?  What  new  twist  to  the  situation  would 
Nina's  suspicions  afford?  Richard  Carter  trusted  her; 
this  was  no  time  to  tell  him  that  she  loved  his  son. 
Did  she  love  Ward  ? — or  with  his  keen  and  kindly  eyes 
would  Ward's  father  see  exactly  what  she  saw  in  the 
marriage?  Caught  kissing  in  the  woods — like  Rosa  or 
Germaine;  it  was  unthinkable!  She,  with  her  hard- 
won  prestige  of  dignity  and  reserve,  exposed  to  Nina's 
laughing  insinuations,  or,  worse,  Nina's  prim  dis- 
approval. How  she  had  weakened  her  position  here! 
How  she  had  risked — her  heart  contracted  with  pain — 
severing  of  her  association  with  Crownlands. 

Luncheon,  under  its  veneer  of  gaiety  and  foolishness, 


128  HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER 

offered  fresh  terrors.  For  old  Madame  Carter  had  come 
down,  and  it  occurred  to  Harriet  that  if  Nina  had  seen 
anything  in  the  wood,  she  might  naturally  interest  her 
grandmother  with  an  account  of  it.  Nina  rarely  had  so 
interesting  a  topic  of  conversation.  The  old  lady  would 
go  instantly  to  her  son.  And  Richard — Harriet  could 
imagine  him,  tired,  harassed,  heartsick  over  the  recent 
inexplicable  weakness  of  his  wife,  having  to  face  another 
woman's  treachery,  having  to  listen  to  the  demure  an- 
nouncement of  the  little  secretary's  engagement  to  his 
son. 

Perhaps  not  treachery,  exactly,  thought  Harriet,  as 
the  birds,  and  the  asparagus,  and  the  crisp  little  rolls 
went  the  rounds.  She  ate,  hardly  knowing  what  she 
tasted,  and  spoke  with  only  a  partial  consciousness  of 
what  she  said.  No,  not  treachery  exactly,  especially 
if  she  went  to  Richard  first  with  the  news. 

But  break  in  upon  his  painful  speculations  with  the 
blithe  announcement?  What  must  he  think  of  such 
utter  lack  of  consideration  ?  He  was  experiencing  the 
most  overwhelming  shock  of  all  his  life  now;  he  must 
shortly  be  exposed  to  all  the  whirl  of  scandal:  the 
silenced  gossip,  the  averted  eyes  of  his  world,  the 
weeklies  with  their  muddy  insinuations,  the  staring 
fact  headlined  above  his  breakfast  bacon.  This  was 
her  time  to  efface  herself  and  the  household,  to  help 
him  to  lift  the  load. 

"I'm  afraid  I  wasn't  listening,  Mr.  Blondin?" 

"Miss  Nina  and  I  want  to  know  what  day  we  may 
have  our  party?"  Royal  repeated. 

"The  studio  party?" 

"The  rocf-garden  party.     We're  going  to  have  it 


HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER  129 

from  half-past  six  to  half-past  seven  only,  because  then 
it  won't  be  too  hot.  We  shall  only  ask  the  people  we 
like!  Gira  Diable  will  come  and  dance  for  us,  and  Tilly 
will  read  something " 

"That's  Unger  Tillotson,  the  actor!"  Nina  inter- 
polated, ecstatically. 

"We're  not  sure  that  we'll  let  Francesca  and  Amy 
come,"  Blondin  pursued.  "Maybe  we  won't  let  them 
know  anything  about  it!  And  everybody  has  to  wear 
costumes,  so  that  the  picture  won't  be  spoiled." 

"He  doesn't  like  Amy  and  Francesca,"  Nina  con- 
fessed, with  a  guilty  little  laugh. 

"Not  at  all.  I  like  them  very  much."  Blondin's 
languid,  rich  voice  corrected  her.  Nina  shrank  sensi- 
tively. "I  think  they're  very  charming  little  school- 
girls. But  I  don't  want  them  for  my  friends!" 

At  this  Nina  blossomed  like  the  rose.  Emotion 
choked  her,  and  she  looked  down  at  her  plate  with  a 
fluttering  laugh.  This  was  irrefutable;  before  Miss 
Harriet  and  Ward  and  Granny,  too. 

"That's  what  I  meant!"  she  murmured,  thickly. 

"Why  not  have  it  at  night,  with  lanterns?"  Harriet 
said,  quite  involuntarily.  And  again  a  pang  of  self- 
contempt  swept  over  her.  It  was  hateful,  it  was 
incredible,  but  she  was  playing  his  game  as  calmly 
as  if  doubts  and  reluctance  had  never  entered  her 
heart. 

"People  won't  go  to  the  city,  summer  ever  ings," 
Royal  explained,  "  but  a  great  number  are  there  In  the 
afternoons.  And  then  twilight,  over  the  city,  and  the 
bridges  lighting  up — I  assure  you  it's  like  fairyland!" 

"I  wonder  if  I  am  to  be  invited  to  this  party?"  said 


130  HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER 

Madame  Carter,  royally.     She  had  been  watching  this 
exchange  of  pleasantries  with  approval. 

"You?  You're  the  queen  of  the  whole  affair!" 
Royal  assured  her.  "You  don't  have  to  costume  unless 
you  feel  like  it." 

"Oh,  Granny'll  have  the  nicest  there!"  Nina  pre- 
dicted, gaily.  Her  grandmother  bridled  complacently, 
although  shaking  a  magnificent  head.  Harriet  knew 
that  she  would  spend  as  much  time  upon  her  dress  as  the 
youngest  and  most  beautiful  woman  who  attended. 

"Come,"  said  Madame  Carter,  brightly,  "you  didn't 
think  I  was  going  to  let  you  carry  out  this  little  plan 
without  a  chaperon!" 

If  there  was  a  self-conscious  second  after  this  remark 
it  was  no  more  than  a  second.  Harriet's  quick  colour 
rose,  but  before  Nina's  nervous  little  laugh  had  died 
away  Blondin  said  easily: 

"Ah,  we'll  surround  the  Little  Duchess  with  chaper- 
ons; I'm  not  going  to  be  a  party  to  her  losing  her  heart 
anywhere  around  my  diggings!" 

"From  what  I  said  at  luncheon,  I  hope  you  didn't 
imagine  that  I  thought  there  was  anything — well,  in 
questionable  taste,  in  your  coming  to  Nina's  party!" 
said  Madame  Carter  to  Harriet  an  hour  later,  when  the 
men  had  started  on  their  long  run  back  to  camp,  and 
she  was  about  to  go  upstairs  for  her  daily  siesta. 

"Not  at  all;  I  understood  perfectly!"  Harriet 
assumed  an  air  of  abstraction,  of  pleasant  unconcern. 
Her  red  lips  were  firm,  and  closed  firmly  after  the  brief 
answer.  The  smoky  blue  eyes  regarded  Madame  Car- 
ter with  innocent  expectancy.  The  girl  was  amazingly 
handsome,  thought  the  old  lady  reluctantly. 


HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER  131 

"Of  course,  if  Mrs.  Carter  can  spare  you,  and  con- 
siders it  suitable,  you  will  be  there!"  said  Madame 
Carter,  amiably,  mounting  the  first  stair. 

"Surely!"  Harriet  said,  with  a  murderous  impulse. 
She  watched  the  erect,  splendid  old  figure  ascending. 
What  was  there  about  this  old  lady  that  could  put  her, 
and  indeed  almost  any  one  else  who  chanced  to  be 
marked  by  her  dislike,  into  a  helpless  fury  of  anger? 
"If  I  were  once  safely  married  to  Ward,"  the  girl  said  to 
herself,  "if— 

It  was  a  tremendous  "if,"  of  course.  There  were  a 
great  many  things  now  that  might  turn  the  scales  one 
way  or  another.  Richard's  attitude  was  supremely 
important.  He  might  feel  that  his  son  was  taking  a 
wise,  a  desirable  step.  He  might  feel  that  to  have  the 
boy  settled  was  to  lift  just  one  care  from  the  many  that 
burdened  his  shoulders.  On  the  other  hand,  was  it 
more  probable  that  this  untimely  announcement,  with 
its  accompanying  merry-making  and  rejoicing,  would 
utterly  exasperate  and  antagonize  him?  Harriet  fan- 
cied him  asking,  with  weary  politeness,  just  what  their 
plans  were  ?  Did  Ward  propose  to  finish  college  ?  Had 
he  formed  any  idea  of  the  means  by  which  he  should  earn 
his  living?  He  had  his  uncle's  legacy,  of  course,  the 
larger  part  of  it.  Did  the  young  people  propose  to 
begin  with  that  ? 

Harriet  perfectly  understood  Richard's  attitude  to 
the  average  son  of  the  average  wealthy  family.  She 
had  heard  his  caustic  comments  upon  them  often 
enough.  He  had  earned  his  own  education;  he  showed 
for  Isabelle's  spoiling  of  her  son  the  patience  of  helpless- 
ness. To  make  a  man  of  Ward,  in  his  father's  estima- 


132  HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER 

tion,  would  have  meant  a  readjustment  of  their  entire 
scheme  of  living  and  thinking.  It  was  simpler,  pleas- 
anter,  to  sacrifice  Ward  to  the  general  comfort,  es- 
pecially as  he,  Richard,  was  very  busy,  and  as  there 
was  always  a  possibility  that  the  women  were  right, 
and  would  make  a  man  of  him  anyway.  Harriet's 
keen  eyes  saw,  if  Isabelle's  did  not,  that  Ward  had  been 
steadily  gaining  in  his  father's  good  graces  for  the  last 
year  or  two.  His  cheerful,  casual  manner  masked  no 
weakness,  every  muscle  in  the  young,  big  body  was 
hard  from  tennis  and  baseball.  If  there  were  sins  of 
self-indulgence,  natural  to  youth  and  money  and  charm, 
Ward  never  brought  them  home  with  him.  Lately  he 
had  begun  to  talk  of  getting  out  of  college  at  Christmas 
time,  and  "getting  started."  His  father  watched  him, 
Harriet  saw,  almost  wistfully.  Was  the  lad  really  be- 
coming a  man,  in  a  world  of  men  ? 

"The  probability  is  that  he  will  favour  our  engage- 
ment," Harriet  reflected.  But  this  was  no  time  to 
risk  the  chance  of  crossing  him.  She  must  wait.  She 
must  choose  the  lesser  risk  of  Nina  making  mischief 
with  old  Madame  Carter;  the  contingency  was  there, 
but  it  was  a  remote  contingency. 


CHAPTER  X 

AT  FOUR  o'clock  Richard  came  home,  and  the  in- 
stant Harriet  saw  his  face  she  realized,  with  a  shock  even 
sharper  than  the  original  moment  of  incredulity,  that 
he  had  had  no  success  in  his  search.  He  was  alone. 

She  was  standing  in  one  of  the  doorways  of  the 
lower  hall  when  he  crossed  it,  but  he  did  not  see  her. 
His  face  was  drawn  and  gray,  he  looked  hot  and  rumpled 
and  utterly  weary;  more,  he  who  had  always  been  the 
pink  of  well-groomed  perfection  looked  old.  He  asked 
Bottomley  briefly  if  Madame  Carter  was  in  her  room, 
and,  being  informed  that  she  was,  went  hastily  upstairs. 

Harriet  could  only  imagine,  later,  that  he  had  gone 
in  to  see  his  mother  before  brushing  and  changing,  or 
perhaps  to  avoid  Nina,  who  with  Amy  catapulted  down 
the  stairway  a  few  seconds  after  he  went  up.  At  all 
events,  it  was  to  the  old  lady's  beautiful  sitting  room 
that  Harriet  was  summoned  a  few  minutes  later.  She 
knew  at  once  that  he  had  told  his  mother  all  he  knew 
and  feared. 

Madame  Carter  was  shockingly  agitated.  She  had  a 
deep  sense  of  the  dramatic,  but  she  was  not  entirely 
acting  now.  Her  face  was  pale  under  its  rouge,  and  the 
painful  tears  of  age  stood  in  her  eyes.  She  was  sitting 
erect  in  a  chair  beside  the  divan  where  Richard  sat;  he 
did  not  look  up  as  Harriet  came  in,  but  continued  to 
stroke  his  mother's  hand. 

13? 


134  HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER 

"Miss  Field!"  said  Madame  Carter,  "we  have  just 
had  a  most  terrible — a  most  unexpected — blow!" 

Harriet  simulated  expectancy. 

"There  is  every  reason  to  believe,"  pursued  Madame 
Carter,  majestically,  "that  my  unfortunate  daughter-in- 
law,  Mr.  Carter's  wife,  Isabelle,  has  yielded  to  the 
passion  of  her  lover!  No,  let  me  talk,  Richard,"  she 
interrupted  herself,  as  the  man  raised  haggard  eyes  to 
watch  her  impersonally,  "far  better  to  face  the  facts, 
my  dear!  My  son  tells  me,  Miss  Field  the — the  well- 
nigh  incredible  statement  that — forgetting  the  honour  of 
womanhood,  and  the  tender  claims  of  maternity 

"Miss  Field,"  Richard  did  not  have  the  manner  of 
interruption,  but  his  quiet  voice  dominated  the  other 
voice  none-the-less.  Madame  Carter  fell  silent,  and 
watched  him  with  mournful  pride.  "Miss  Field,"  he 
said,  "we  want  your  help.  The  facts  are  these:  Wil- 
liams had  all  the  roads  watched;  they  did  not  go  by 
motor.  Mrs.  Carter  reached  New  London  at  five 
o'clock  yesterday;  Pope's  boat,  the  Geisha,  pulled  out 
at  half-past  six.  From  what  Williams'  men  picked  up, 
at  the  dock,  Pope  did  not  expect  her,  was  to  have  sailed 
this  morning.  She  arrived,  and  evidently  he  thought 
it  wise  to  hurry  their  start.  The  pier  had  a  dozen  boxes 
for  the  Geisha  on  it,  groceries  and  what  not,  that  they 
left  behind!  They  will  probably  skirt  the  coast  for  a 
few  days,  and  put  in  somewhere  for  supplies.  But 
that" — he  passed  his  hand  wearily  across  his  forehead 
—"that  doesn't  concern  us  now.  We  got  there  at 
ten  last  night — hours  too  late,  of  course."  His  voice 
fell,  he  mused,  with  a  knitted  brow.  "Well!"  he  said, 
suddenly  recalling  himself.  "Now,  Miss  Field,  I  want 


HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER  135 

you  to  get  hold  of  Ward.  I  want  the  boy  home  at 
once!  He  must  know.  But  there  is  of  course  a  chance 
that  Mrs.  Carter  is — is  planning  to  return.  There  may 
be  a  woman  friend  with  her — it's  not  probable,  but  it's 
possible.  I  don't  want  any  one  in  the  house,  or  out  of  it, 
to  suspect,  and  if  you  think  it  is  possible,  I  should  like 
Nina  protected!" 

"I  understand,"  Harriet  said,  quietly,  in  the  silence. 

"You  will  remember,  Richard,"  Madame  Carter 
said,  in  the  accents  of  Lady  Macbeth,  "that  this  is 
exactly  what  I  always  expected !  I  told  you  so,  twenty 
years  ago.  You  brought  it  on  yourself,  my  dear.  A 
Morrison — who  ever  heard  of  the  Morrisons? — their 
mother — Mrs.  Banks  tells  me — was  a  school  teacher! 
I  have  always  felt !" 

Harriet  heard  the  man's  patient  murmur  as  she 
slipped  away.  She  crossed  the  hall,  and  for  the  first 
time  in  four  years  entered  Isabelle's  suite  unannounced. 
It  was  in  exquisite  order;  streams  of  late  afternoon  light 
were  falling  on  the  gay  walls  and  the  bright  chintzes. 
The  novels  Isabelle  had  been  skimming,  the  gold  ser- 
vice of  her  dressing  table,  the  great  four-poster  with  its 
deeps  of  transparent  white  embroideries  over  white,  all 
spoke  of  the  beautiful  woman  who  had  spent  so  many 
hours  here.  On  the  dressing  table,  with  its  splendid 
length  doubled  in  the  mirror,  was  the  great  fan  that  her 
hand  had  idly  wielded,  only  a  few  days  ago,  in  an  hour 
of  domestic  felicity  and  happiness.  And  the  inanimate 
plumes,  that  Harriet  picked  up  and  idly  unfurled,  had 
played  their  little  part  in  the  drama  that  had  ended  that 
bright  scene  once  and  for  all. 

What  to  tell  Nina? — Harriet  wondered,  going  down- 


136  HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER 

stairs.  But  Nina  proved  pleasantly  indifferent  to  the 
maternal  absence  when  she  and  Amy  came  up  from 
the  tennis  court  for  tea.  To  the  guest  or  two  who  came 
calling  Harriet,  installed  quite  naturally  now  behind 
the  cups  and  saucers,  explained  that  Mrs.  Carter  was 
visiting  with  friends — having  a  beautiful  time,  too,  ap- 
parently. To  an  accidentally  direct  remark  from  Amy 
she  answered  that  she  believed  they  were  taking  a  motor 
trip  just  at  the  moment,  but  she  would  forward  a  note, 
if  Amy  liked.  Madame  Carter  did  not  come  out  for 
tea;  they  were  very  quiet  on  the  terrace.  But  Richard 
was  there,  and  Amy  and  Nina  were  developing  their 
youthful  conversational  arts  upon  him,  when  a  maid 
came  to  stand  respectfully  beside  Harriet.  "If  you 
please,  Miss  Field,  Mr.  Bottomley  would  like  to  know 
if  you  are  to  have  your  dinner  downstairs  to-night, 
please,"  said  Pauline,  incidentally  feeling  as  if  she  was 
in  a  dream  of  bliss.  Her  last  position  had  been  in  a 
well-to-do  stationer's  family  in  Newark,  and  conse- 
sequently  she  might  have  entered  into  the  feelings  of 
Miss  Field  far  more  intelligently  than  either  imagined. 

Harriet  hesitated,  glanced  at  Richard,  wondering  if 
he  had  heard.  More  rested  on  this  decision  than  there 
was  any  estimating.  She  dared  not  decide. 

"Miss  Field  will  dine  downstairs,"  Richard  said, 
without  glancing  in  their  direction.  And  when  the 
maid  had  gone  he  said  with  pleasant  authority,  "I  wish 
you  and  Nina  would  do  that  regularly,  Miss  Field,  when 
you  have  no  other  plan." 

"Thank  you,"  Harriet  said,  with  her  heart  singing. 

Perhaps  Nina  suspected  that  something  about  his 
high-handed  domestic  readjusting  was  unusual.  She 


HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER  137 

looked  from  her  father  to  Harriet,  and  after  a  moment's 
silence  asked  abruptly: 

"When  is  Mother  coming  back?" 

"I  don't  know!"  her  father  answered,  quickly. 

"Say,  listen,  are  we  going  to  dress?"  asked  Amy. 
Nina,  instantly  diverted,  suggested  that  they  go  in. 
Nina's  awkward  bigness  and  Amy's  mousy  neutral  tones 
were  as  well  displayed  in  one  garment  as  another,  but 
both  girls  debated  over  pinks  and  blues,  crepes  and 
mulls,  every  evening,  as  if  the  world  was  watching  them 
alone.  Harriet  lingered  for  only  a  word. 

"Mr.  Carter,  it  occurred  to  me  that  old  Mrs.  Single- 
ton is  going  to  California,  in  her  own  car,  to-morrow. 
Would  it  be  possible  to  let  Nina  and  Amy  and  the  house- 
hold generally  think — 

"Yes?"  he  encouraged  her  as  she  paused  dubiously. 
He  had  risen  to  his  feet,  and  fixed  his  tired  eyes  on  her 
face. 

"I  was  wondering  if  we  might  confide  in  Mrs.  Single- 
ton— she  was  always  very  fond  of  Mrs.  Carter — and  give 
out  the  impression  that  Mrs.  Carter  had  suddenly  de- 
cided to  make  the  trip  with  her." 

"That's  an  idea,"  Richard  said,  thoughtfully.     "I 

could  see  Mrs.  Singleton  to-night — and — and   talk   it 

j> 
over. 

"It  might  serve  for  only  a  few  days,"  Harriet  sub- 
mitted. 

"Yes,  I  see,"  he  agreed,  slowly. 

"Well,  I  can  give  Nina  a  hint  now!"  Harriet  said, 
going.  The  late  golden  sunshine  struck  her  bright  hair 
to  an  aureole,  as  she  went  up  the  brick  steps  and  dis- 
appeared. 


138  HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER 

But  it  was  too  late  for  any  soothing  deception  of  Nina. 
A  scene  was  in  full  progress  in  Nina's  bedroom,  and 
Harriet's  eye  had  only  to  go  from  the  prone  form  on  the 
bed  to  the  crushed  newspaper  that  had  drifted  to  the 
floor,  to  know  that  the  secret  was  out.  Isabelle's  face, 
radiant  and  happy,  looked  out  from  the  page.  It 
was  flanked  by  two  smaller  pictures,  Richard's  and 
Anthony  Pope's.  Harriet  could  see  the  big  letters: 
"Young  Millionaire — Wife  of  Richard  Carter."  The 
deluge  was  upon  them. 

"Oh — it's  a  lie — it's  a  lie!  My  beautiful  little 
mother!"  Nina  was  sobbing.  "Oh,  no,  it's  not  true! 
It's  a  lie!  Oh,  how  shall  I  ever  hold  up  my  head  again 
— to  be  disgraced — now  just  when  I'm  so  young — 
and  ha-h-happy!" 

"Nina,  my  child,  control  yourself! "  Harriet,  ignoring 
the  staring  and  pale-faced  Amy,  sat  down  on  the  edge 
of  the  bed,  and  shook  the  girl  slightly.  "You  mustn't 
give  way!  Come  now,  my  dear,  you  must  face  this 
like  a  woman.  Think  how  your  father  and  Ward  will 
look  to  you 

Acting,  all  of  it,  said  Harriet  in  her  soul.  But  despite 
the  youthful  appetite  for  heroics,  there  were  real  tears 
in  Nina's  eyes,  as  there  had  been  in  her  grandmother's 
a  few  hours  ago. 

"Yes,  that's  true!"  she  said,  wiping  a  swollen  face  on 
the  handkerchief  Harriet  supplied.  "But  oh — I  don't 
believe  it,  and  my  father  will  sue  them  for  libel,  you  see 
if  he  doesn't!  My  mother's  the  purest  and  sweetest 
and  best  woman  alive — and  I'll  kill  any  one  who  says 
any  different!" 

"Oo-oo,  to  see  it  in  the  paper  there,  right  on  the  bed,"' 


HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER  139 

said  Amy,  in  her  reedy,  colourless  little  voice,  as  Nina 
stopped  suddenly.  "Oo-oo,  I  thought  Nina  would  die!" 
Nina  began  to  cry  again,  but  more  quietly.  "I  guess 
I  had  better  go "  Amy  finished,  plaintively. 

"Oh,  no!"  said  Nina  in  a  choked  voice,  as  she  clung 
to  her  friend.  "No,  darling!  you  stay  with  me.  Oh,  I 
must  go  see  my  father,  and  my  poor,  poor  grandmother! 
Oh,  Amy,  perhaps  you  had  better  go,  for  my  family 

will  need  me  to-night.  My  mother !"  said  Nina,. 

crying  again. 

She  and  Amy  parted  solemnly,  with  many  kisses. 

"It's  a  thing  that  might  happen  to  me,  or  to  any 
girl,"  said  Amy,  gravely.  Harriet  had  an  upsetting 
vision  of  stout,  high-busted  Mrs.  Hawkes,  panting  as 
she  discussed  the  details  of  the  Red  Cross  drive,  but  she 
was  very  sympathetic  with  the  young  girls,  and  even 
agreed  with  Nina,  when  Amy  was  gone,  that  it  would  be 
much  more  sensible  to  take  her  bath,  and  put  on  her 
white  organdie,  and  then  go  find  her  father. 

They  dined  almost  silently,  and  were  about  to  disperse 
quietly  for  the  night,  after  an  hour  of  half-hearted  con- 
versation in  the  drawing  room,  obviously  endured  by 
Richard  simply  for  his  mother's  sake,  when  Ward  burst 
in.  He  had  travelled  almost  four  hundred  miles  by 
motor  that  day,  his  face  was  streaked  with  dirt  and  oil, 
and  ghastly  with  fatigue.  He  went  straight  to  his 
father. 

"Say,  what's  all  this!"  he  said,  in  a  voice  hardly 
recognizable.  Harriet  saw  that  he  had  been  drinking. 
"I  got  your  wire,  and  we  started.  I  thought  the  Mater 
was  sick,  perhaps.  My  God — that  worried  me!"  he 
broke  off  bitterly.  "Blondin  came  with  me;  we  stop- 


140  HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER 

ped  on  the  road  for  dinner,  and  the  man  had  a  paper 
there.  Is  that  what  you  wanted  me  for — I  don't  be- 
lieve it!  It's  a  dirty  lie,  and  the  bounder  that  put  that 
in  the  paper — 

"I'm  glad  you  came  home,  my  boy,"  Richard  said. 
"I've  been  waiting  for  you 

Harriet  heard  no  more;  she  slipped  from  the  room. 
There  were  genuine  tears  in  her  own  eyes  now;  for  the 
boy  had  flung  himself  face  downward  against  a  great 
chair,  and  was  crying.  All  the  household  knew  it; 
Harriet  could  read  it  in  Bottomley's  carefully  usual 
manner  and  quiet  speech.  In  the  little  music  room 
across  the  hall  Royal  Blondin  was  waiting. 

"This  is  a  terrible  thing!"  he  said,  seriously. 

"Oh,  frightful!"  Harriet  agreed.  A  rather  flat 
silence  ensued.  She  seemed  to  have  nothing  to  say 
to  Royal  now. 

But  she  was  not  surprised  when  a  moment  later  Nina 
came  softly  in,  the  picture  of  girlish  distress,  with  her 
wet  eyes  and  fresh  white  gown. 

"I  thought  it  best  to  leave  Ward  with  Granny  and 
Father,"  Nina  said,  in  vague  explanation,  going  straight 
to  Blondin,  who  rose,  dusty  and  weary,  but  with  a  solici- 
tous manner  that  was  infinitely  soothing. 

"  I  hoped  you  wouldn't  mind  just  seeing  me,"  he  said 
in  a  low  tone.  "I'm  not  quite  family,  and  yet  I  felt 
myself  nearer  than  all  the  neighbours  and  friends,  eh?" 

"I  shan't  see  any  one  for  ages,"  Nina  murmured, 
plaintively,  "but  you — you're  different." 

"And  shall  we  talk  about  her  sometimes?"  Royal 
pursued,  still  close  to  her,  and  holding  both  her  hands. 
"As  she  was,  beautiful  and  sweet  and  good.  For  who 


HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER  141 

are  you  and  I,  Little  Girl,  to  judge  what  passion — what 
love  will  do  with  human  hearts  ? " 

"Yes,  I  know!"  Nina,  who  never  could  keep  pace 
with  him,  said  mournfully. 

Harriet  could  hear  the  undertones,  and  imagine  what 
they  said.  She  felt  extremely  uneasy.  If  this  unfore- 
seen calamity  had  lifted  her  suddenly  in  the  family 
estimation,  it  would  appear  to  be  drawing  Royal 
Blondin  closer  as  well. 

His  manner,  she  had  grudgingly  to  admit,  was  per- 
fection. When  Richard  and  Ward  joined  them  a  few 
moments  later,  he  expressed  himself  with  manly  brev- 
ity to  the  older  man.  He  realized,  said  Blondin  simply, 
that  he  was  absolutely  de  trap;  he  had  merely  imagined, 
as  "the  lad"  had  imagined,  that  the  sudden  summons 
from  camp  meant  illness  or  ordinary  emergency,  or  he 
would  not  have  intruded  at  this  time.  He  would  not 
express  a  sympathy  that  must  sound  extremely  airy 
to  the  stricken  family.  And  now,  if  they  would  lend 
him  Hansen,  he  would  go  over  to  the  club — 

"Nonsense!"  Ward  said.  "You're  all  dirty  and 
tired  and  hungry,  and  so  am  I.  We'll  clean  up,  and 
then  we'll  have  something  to  eat  first!  Miss  Harriet'll 
look  out  for  us." 

"And  I'd  like  to  see  you  for  a  moment  in  the  library, 
Miss  Field,"  Richard  said,  rather  wearily.  He  had 
been  obviously  displeased  at  seeing  the  stranger,  but 
Blondin's  manner  would  have  won  a  harder  heart  than 
his.  "I  want  something  sent  to  the  papers,"  Richard 
explained,  in  an  undertone. 

Ah — they  all  wanted  her,  and  needed  her!  How 
quick,  and  how  efficient,  and  how  self-effacing  Harriet 


142  HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER 

was,  as  she  went  about  the  business  of  making  them  all 
comfortable!  She  and  Nina  talked  with  the  young  men 
while  they  demolished  the  cold  roast  and  drank  cup 
after  cup  of  coffee.  Then  Blondin  selected  several 
books,  and  went  upstairs,  and  Harriet  and  Nina  dis- 
appeared in  their  own  rooms;  but  Ward  came  down- 
stairs again,  and  he  and  his  father  settled  in  the  library 
for  a  talk. 

They  talked  deep  into  the  night,  Harriet  knew,  for  she 
herself  was  sleepless,  and  she  could  see  from  the  upper 
balcony  that  a  stream  of  golden  light  was  pouring  across 
the  brilliant  flowers  beneath  the  library  windows. 

She  had  wrapped  herself  in  a  warm  robe,  over  her 
thin  nightgown,  and  thrust  her  feet  into  fur-lined 
slippers,  and  after 'Nina  was  fathoms  deep  in  youthful 
slumber  Harriet  crept  out  to  the  balcony,  and  sat  think- 
ing, thinking,  thinking.  She  reviewed  the  incredible 
events  of  the  past  few  days,  and  the  actors  drifted  be- 
fore her  vision  fitfully:  Isabelle,  white-bosomed  and 
beautiful,  in  her  prime;  Tony  Pope,  passionate  and 
wretched;  Royal,  low-voiced,  dreamy,  poetic,  with  his 
eloquent  black  eyes;  Nina,  newly  awakened;  Ward, 
weak,  boyish,  ardent;  Madame  Carter  full  of  theatrical 
dignity  and  well-rounded  phrases,  and  lastly — simple, 
strong,  anxious  to  protect  them  all,  even  from  their 
own  follies — Richard. 

"Not  one  word  of  blame,  not  one  ugly  insinuation," 
she  mused,  "yet  she  has  shamed  him,  and  he  is  so  hon- 
ourable; and  she  has  made  him  conspicuous,  when  he  is 
so  modest!" 

She  thought  of  Isabelle,  fresh  from  Germaine's  care- 
ful hands,  lying  in  her  exquisite  white  against  the  cush- 


HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER  143 

ions  of  a  deck  chair,  smiling,  in  the  rosy  flattering 
light  under  the  green  awning,  at  the  infatuated  man 
beside  her.  Isabelle  was  a  splendid  sailor,  and  loved 
the  sea.  They  would  land  at  some  dreamlike  Italian 
city,  rising  in  tiers  of  pink  and  cream  and  blue  beside 
the  sapphire  Mediterranean,  and  Isabelle  would  unfurl 
her  white  parasol,  and  walk  beside  him  through  the 
warmth  and  beauty 

"Ugh!"  said  Harriet,  with  a  healthy  uprush  of  utter 
disgust.  These  few  months  would  not  be  cloudless  for 
Isabelle,  by  any  means.  And  after  them,  what  ?  Was 
it  conceivable  that  those  fatal  sixteen  years  would  fail 
to  identify  Tony  and  Isabelle  wherever  they  went,  even 
if  the  press  was  not  eagerly  assisting  them  ?  Supposing 
that  Isabelle  never  thought  of  Crownlands,  of  her  hand- 
some son  and  her  young  daughter,  of  the  man  whose 
patience  and  cleverness  had  lifted  her  to  all  this  luxury 
from  an  apartment  in  a  small  town,  would  no  memory 
of  the  place  she  had  held,  and  the  friendships  she  had 
commanded,  haunt  her?  Truly  there  was  always  so- 
ciety for  the  Isabelles,  but  to  Harriet's  clean  sense  it 
seemed  but  the  society  of  a  jail. 

"  I  wouldn't  change  places  with  her! "  Harriet  decided, 
in  the  soft  silence  and  darkness  of  the  summer  night. 

From  Isabelle's  problem  her  thoughts  went  to  her 
own,  to  Royal  Blondin.  She  was  wakeful  and  restless 
to-night  simply  because  she  could  not  decide  just  how 
much  she  need  fear  him.  Firstly,  was  there  any  reason 
for  antagonizing  him,  and  secondly,  would  he  hurt  her 
if  she  did?  For  Royal  could  not  punish  her  without 
punishing  himself,  and  could  not  banish  her  from  Crown- 
lands  if  he  ever  hoped  to  show  his  own  face  there  again. 


144  HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER 

Nina,  reaching  her  room  that  night,  had  flung  her 
arms  about  Harriet's  neck. 

"Oh,  I'm  so  happy!  Oh,  Miss  Harriet,  were  you 
ever  in  love?"  she  had  demanded,  with  a  girl's  wild, 
exultant  laugh. 

This  was  moving  very  fast  indeed.  Harriet  had 
managed  a  sympathetic  yet  warning  smile. 

"I  think  I  have  been.  But,  my  dearest  girl,  you'll  be 
in  and  out  a  dozen  times  before  the  real  thing  comes 
along!" 

Nina  had  smiled  inscrutably  at  this,  and  slightly 
diverted  the  conversation. 

"Don't  you  think  it  was  awfully  decent  of  Mr. 
Blondin  to  want  to  go  off  to  the  club  to-night  ?  Oh,  I 
thought  he  looked  perfectly  stunning  when  he  looked 
at  Father  that  way!  He  told  me  to  telephone  the  club 
to-morrow  if  I  felt  like  just  a  quiet  walk.  Of  course  I 
shan't  see  any  one  for  weeks,  after  this.  But  he  said 
some  day  when  I'm  in  town  with  Granny  he  didn't  see 
why  we  couldn't  go  over  and  have  a  cup  of  tea  with  him, 
even  if  we  postponed  the  regular  tea.  Do  you  ?  He's 
different  from  any  one  I  ever  knew.  He  says  I  am 
different  from  any  girl  he  ever  knew.  Do  you  think  I 
am?  I  said  I  thought  I  was  just  like  the  others,  except 
that  I  like  to  read  poetry  and  have  my  own  ideas  about 
things,  and  that  I  couldn't  flirt,  or  wouldn't  if  I  could, 
and  that  the  average  boy  just  bored  me.  I  said  that 
those  things  were  sacred  to  me " 

Sacred  to  her!  Long  after  the  chattering  voice  was 
still,  Harriet,  out  on  the  balcony,  remembered  the 
phrase  and  winced.  There  would  be  small  sacredness 
in  the  hour  that  gave  Nina  to  Royal  Blondin.  And 


HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER  145 

yet,  if  in  his  cleverness  he  won  her  first  tenacious  affec- 
tion, it  would  be  a  difficult  thing  to  prevent.  Isabelle, 
her  natural  protector,  was  gone;  Richard  saw  nothing; 
the  old  lady  was  on  the  lovers'  side,  and  Ward  also 
had  been  captivated  by  Blondin.  It  was  only  Harriet, 
only  Harriet,  who  saw  and  who  understood. 

Was  he  so  bad?  She  tried  to  ask  herself  the 
question  honestly,  and  an  honest  shudder  answered  it 
before  it  was  fairly  framed.  Nearly  twenty  years 
Nina's  senior,  with  an  interest  that  could  not,  he  con- 
fessed, have  existed  except  for  the  girl's  fortune,  that 
was  arraignment  enough.  But  there  was  more.  Harriet 
knew  the  smooth  coldness,  the  contemptuous  superior- 
ity that  within  a  year  or  two  would  blast  the  youth  and 
self-confidence  of  a  dozen  Ninas;  she  knew  what  his 
moral  code  was,  a  code  that  made  desire  and  opportunity 
the  only  law,  and  that  honoured  passion  as  the  crowning 
emotion  of  life.  She  tried  to  picture  Nina's  marriage, 
their  early  days  together,  the  breakfast  table,  where  the 
crude  little  girl  blundered  and  floundered  in  conversa- 
tion, her  helpless  devotion,  that  would  annoy  and  exas- 
perate him.  She  saw  Nina's  near-sighted  eyes  welling 
with  hurt  tears;  Nina's  check  book  eagerly  surrendered 
to  win  from  her  lord  a  few  delicious  hours  of  the  old 
flattery,  the  old  attention.  Harriet  fancied  Nina,  poor, 
plain,  obtuse  little  Nina,  home  again :  "  But  you  don't 
know  how  hard  it  is,  Father.  He  is  never  there  any 
more — he  hardly  ever  speaks  to  me!" 

"It  would  take  a  clever  woman  to  hold  him,"  Harriet 
thought,  "and  it  wouldn't  be  worth  a  clever  woman's 
while." 

Nina — Ward — Royal — Richard.     The  wearying  pro- 


146  HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER 

cession  began  again.  Royal  might  treat  her  with 
honesty  and  honour.  He  was  not  small  in  everything, 
and  she  had  never  done  him  harm.  But — there  might 
come  the  terrible  moment  when  she  had  to  face  Richard 
with  the  confession.  Yes,  she  had  known  him  before. 
Yes,  they  had  entered  into  a  tacit  compact.  Yes,  she 
had  kept  from  Nina's  father  a  secret  that,  while  it 
might  be  unimportant,  certainly  should  have  been  told 
him. 

Impossible  to  think  the  thing  to  any  conclusion! 
Too  many  possibilities  might  alter  the  entire  situation. 

If  she  were  married  safely  to  Ward,  for  example ? 

But  then  she  dared  not  marry  Ward  until  Royal's  at- 
titude was  finally  defined.  For  if  her  position  were  dan- 
gerous now,  what  would  it  be  if  she  had  committed  her- 
self irrevocably  to  deception  by  marriage?  Ward's 
young,  crude  intolerance  sitting  in  judgment  upon  his 
wife! — Harriet  shivered. 

Suddenly  she  fell  upon  her  knees,  and  dropped  her 
bright  head  against  the  wide  balustrade.  She  wanted 
to  be  a  dignified,  honourable,  helpful  woman ;  not  selfish, 
like  Nina;  not  an  intriguer,  like  Isabelle;  not  proud,  like 
Madame  Carter.  Something  was  changing  in  her 
heart  and  soul;  she  did  not  feel  angry  and  bitter  any 
more.  With  Royal's  reappearance  had  come  the  real- 
ization that  the  old,  sad  time  was  no  longer  a  living 
wound  in  her  life,  it  was  merely  a  memory,  young,  and 
mistaken,  and  to  be  forgotten.  For  years  she  had  felt 
that  it  had  maimed  her;  now  it  seemed  only  infinitely 
pitiable.  She  could  go  on,  to  honour  and  happiness, 
despite  it.  And  how  she  longed  to  go  on,  with  no  fur- 
ther handicap!  If  he  would  go  away  again,  and  leave 


HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER  14? 

her  mistress  of  the  field.  She  only  wanted  her  chance. 
She  wanted  to  win.  her  way,  here  in  this  fascinating 
world;  she  wanted  to  be  beloved  and  successful;  above 
all  she  wanted  to  be  good! 

For  a  long  time  Harriet  had  not  prayed.  But  now,  in 
a  few  words,,  and  quite  without  premeditation,  there 
burst  from  her  the  most  sincere  prayer  of  her  life.  She 
looked  up  at  the  stars. 

"God!"  she  said,  softly,  aloud,  "help  me!  Make  me 
do  what  is  right,  however  hard  it  is.  Father,  don't 
let  me  make  another  mistake!" 


CHAPTER  XI 

SUDDEN  peace  and  confidence  flooded  her  spirit.  She 
sat  on,  dreaming  and  planning,  but  with  no  more 
mental  distress.  With  the  prayer  she  had  gained,  in 
some  subtle  fashion,  a  new  self-respect.  She  would  not 
let  him  frighten  her  again;  after  all,  while  she  com- 
manded her  own  soul,  Royal  Blondin  could  not  hurt 
her. 

"And  he  shall  not  marry  Nina,  either!"  Harriet  de- 
cided, going  in,  stiff"  and  cold,  but  full  of  resolution. 
She  looked  at  a  clock,  it  was  almost  four.  Three  hours' 
sleep  was  not  to  be  despised,  but  Harriet  was  in  no 
mood  for  it.  Instead  she  took  a  bath,  and  just  as 
the  dawn  was  beginning  to  flood  the  world  with  mys- 
terious half-lights  and  long  wet  shadows,  she  crept  out 
into  the  dew-drenched  garden,  and  with  a  triumphant 
sense  of  being  alone,  went  into  the  wood.  Early  walks 
were  one  of  her  delights.  She  was  rarely  alone  other- 
wise; her  position  afforded  her  almost  every  other  luxury, 
but  not  often  this  one.  Nina's  plans  were  usually  cut 
to  fit  Harriet's;  even  the  shortest  errand,  or  least  inter- 
esting trip  into  town  was  pleasanter  to  Nina  than  her 
own  society. 

It  was  exquisite  in  the  wood.  The  light  flashed  on 
wet  leaves,  the  birds  were  awaking.  A  little  steamer 
went  up  the  satiny,  dreaming  surface  of  the  river,  and 
when  Harriet  walked  through  the  village,  heartening 

148 


HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER  149 

.     i 

whiffs  of  boiling  coffee  and  wood  smoke  came  from  the 

labourers'  cottages.  She  was  young;  she  could  have 
danced  with  exultation  in  the  hour  and  mood.  It  was 
almost  seven  o'clock  when  she  came  back,  glowing, 
beginning  to  feel  warm  and  headachy,  beginning  to 
realize  that  the  July  day  would  be  hot,  beginning  to  be 
conscious  of  the  eight-mile  tramp.  In  the  garden 
at  Crownlands  she  met  Royal,  leaving  the  house. 

He  studied  her  approvingly. 

"Harriet,  do  you  know  you  are  extraordinarily  easy 
to  look  upon?  What  gets  you  up  so  early?" 

"I've  been  walking,"  she  said,  briefly  and  unrespon- 
sively.  His  social  pleasantries  instantly  antagonized 
her,  and  he  saw  it. 

"Well,  I  thought  perhaps  I  had  better  get  out.  I'm 
at  the  club  for  a  day  or  two.  I  believe  Miss  Hawkes, 
Rosa,  the  eldest  sister,  wants  me  to  get  up  a  reading, 
the  great  Indian  Epic  Poems,  something  along  that  line. 
It's  for  the  Red  Cross,  of  course."  He  yawned,  and 
smiled  at  the  early  summer  sky.  "Ward  tells  me,"  he 
added,  giving  the  girl  a  sharp  glance,  "that  you  and 
he— eh?" 

Harriet  flushed. 

"I'm  sorry  he  told  you!" 

"Oh,  my  dear  child!"  Blondin  made  a  deprecatory 
motion  of  his  hands.  "Of  course,  I  think  you're  very 
wise,"  he  added. 

This  smote  upon  her  new-born  self-respect,  and  all 
the  glory  departed  from  the  day.  She  had  taken  off 
her  loose  white  coat,  and  pushed  back  the  hat  that 
pressed  upon  her  thick,  shining  hair.  It  clung  in  damp 
ringlets  to  the  soft  duskiness  of  forehead  and  temples, 


150  HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER 

her  cheeks  glowed  rosily  under  their  warm  olive,  and 
her  clouded  smoke-blue  eyes  were  averted;  he  could  see 
only  the  thick,  upcurling  black  lashes  that  fringed  them 
so  darkly.  The  man  saw  her  breast  rise  and  fall  with 
some  quick  emotion  as  he  half-smilingly  watched  her. 

"The  lad  gets  a  beautiful  and  wise  and  very  discreet 
wife,"  he  was  beginning,  but  Harriet  silenced  him  angrily. 

"We  need  not  indulge  in  compliments,  Roy!     If  I 
marry  Ward — 

"If ?     I  supposed  it  definite!" 

"Well,  when  I  marry  him,  then,  it  will  be  because  I 

truly "     She   paused,   halted   at  the   great  word. 

"Because  I  truly  do  admire  and  care  for  him,"  she  sub- 
stituted, somewhat  lamely. 

"It  isn't  quite  a  pillar  of  smoke  by  day,  and  of  fire  by 
night?"  he  suggested,  quietly.  Harriet  saw  the  words 
written,  in  the  handwriting  of  a  girl  of  seventeen,  and 
had  a  moment  of  vertigo.  She  attempted  no  answer. 
"In  other  words,  you  would  hardly  consider  him  if  he 
had  his  own  way  to  make,  if  he  had  a  salary  of  two  hun- 
dred a  month,  like  Fred  Davenport!"  Royal  added. 
"There's  a  certain  magic  about  a  background  of  motor- 
cars and  Sherry's,  and  the  opera  Monday  nights,  and 
the  bank  account,  isn't  there?" 

Silence.  But  it  was  only  for  a  moment.  Then 
Harriet  raised  her  eyes. 

"He  loves  me,"  she  reminded  the  man,  quietly.  "I 
don't  know  what  a  boy's  love  is  worth;  he's  only  twenty- 
two,  after  all.  But  he  does  love  me!  But  believe  me, 
Royal,  you  couldn't  hurt  me — as  you  are  hurting  me! — 
if  there  was  no  truth  in  what  you  say.  Ward  has  had 
three  years  at  college — I've  not  been  a  member  of  the 


HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER  151 

family  all  that  time  without  knowing  that  he  is  not  a 
saint!  He  has  lived  as  other  men  do — as  women  permit 
decent  men  to  live,  I  suppose.  Nina's  different.  She's 
younger.  She  has  never  had  an  affair 

"We  were  not  discussing  Nina!" 

"No,  I  know  it.  But  you  reminded  me  that  what  I 
object  to  in  you,  with  her,  I  myself  am  doing  with  him 
— or  something  very  like  it!  Except  that—  '  Harriet 
floundered  a  little,  but  regained  her  thread — "except 
that  he  does  care  for  me,"  she  repeated;  "he  loves 
beauty — I  can  say  that  to  you  without  your  misunder- 
standing!— and  then,  he  knows  me,  we  have  been  inti- 
mate for  years,  we  are  congenial!" 

"He  knows  everything  about  you,"  Royal  repeated, 
innocently,  as  if  the  defence  she  made  were  perfectly 
acceptable.  But  again  she  was  stung  to  silence. 

"I  am  going  to  tell  him  frankly,  exactly  what  you 
have  said  to  me,"  Harriet  said,  presently,  with  decision 
and  relief  in  her  voice.  "  I  shall  remind  him  that  I  have 
always  been  poor,  and  that  it  is  utterly  impossible  for 
me  to  separate  the  thought  of  him  from  the  thought 
of  what  my  life  as  his  wife  would  gain." 

"Be  careful  how  you  play  your  hand  alone!"  the  man 
said.  "Half  confidence  isn't  much  more  than  none  at 
all!" 

A  moment  later  they  parted :  the  woman  entering  the 
house  for  a  cup  of  coffee,  and  some  conference  with 
butler  and  housekeeper,  and  the  man  starting  off  briskly 
for  his  early  walk.  But  Blondin  was  smiling,  as  he 
went  upon  his  way,  and  Harriet  was  white  with  anger 
and  impotence. 

"I'll  put  everything  else  I  have  in  this  world  in  the 


152  HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER 

balance,  Roy!"  she  said  to  herself,  in  the  sunshiny 
silence  of  the  breakfast  room.  "But  I'll  hold  no  more 
stolen  conversations  with  you!  I'll  break  my  engage- 
ment with  Ward,  I'll  go  to  Richard  Carter  and  humiliate 
myself,  I'll  go  back  to  Linda's  house  without  a  penny 
in  the  world — but  I'll  be  done  with  you!  Thank  God, 
however  the  story  may  sound,  especially  with  your 
interpretations  on  it,  you  haven't  my  honour  in  your 
keeping,  though  you  may  seem  to  have!" 

The  house  was  absolutely  quiet;  the  clock  on  the 
stairs  struck  a  silvery  seven.  Harriet  went  noiselessly 
to  her  own  room;  Nina  was  sleeping  heavily.  She  flung 
off  her  clothes,  sank  into  bed.  And  now  at  last  sleep 
came,  deep,  delicious,  satisfying.  Nina  awoke,  had 
her  breakfast  in  bed,  tubbed  and  dressed,  and  still 
Harriet  slept  on. 

"Miss  Harriet,  it's  nearly  noon!"  The  monitory 
voice  penetrated  at  last;  Harriet  awoke,  smiling. 
"Father's  gone  to  the  city,  and  Ward  with  him,"  Nina 
said,  "and  I  telephoned  the  club  and  asked  Mr.  Blondin 
to  lunch — Granny  said  I  might.  And  the  papers — you 
ought  to  see  them!  Father  said  to  Bottomley  that  he 
was  to  say  that  the  family  was  not  answering  the 
telephone.  Granny  was  darling  to  me  this  morning. 
She  thinks  I  could  keep  house  for  Father.  I  said  no, 
thank  you,  not  while  Miss  Harriet  was  here.  She  said, 
Oh,  no,  she  didn't  mean  immediately,  but  if  you 
married,  or  something.  But  of  course  I  may  move  into 
Mother's  room,  after  awhile,  although — isn't  it  funny? — 
I  keep  thinking  that  she  may  come  back.  And  Father 
said  I  was  not  to  leave  the  place  to-day.  I  had  nine 
letters;  Amy  said  that  she  had  cried  all  night,  and  Mrs. 


HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER  153 

Jay  wrote  Father,  and  oh — Father  had  a  letter  from 
Mother  written  just  before  the  boat  went;  he  didn't 
show  it  to  any  one.  And  she  said  they  were  going  to 
Italy,  and  maybe  Spain,  he  told  Granny.  Isn't  it 
terrible  ?" 

Thus  Nina,  excited  and  pleased  by  the  importance  of 
being  so  close  to  the  calamity. 

"I'll  be  dressed  directly,"  Harriet  said,  in  a  matter-of- 
fact  voice.  "Get  at  your  Spanish,  Nina,  and  I'll  be 
with  you  in  a  few  minutes!" 

A  day  or  two  later  there  was  a  family  conference  in 
the  library,  and  Harriet  realized  more  clearly  than  ever 
that  it  was  impossible  to  forecast  the  march  of  events. 
Richard  announced  that  after  consideration  he  had 
decided  that  it  would  be  wiser  for  the  family  to  weather 
the  storm  of  talk  that  would  follow  Isabelle's  dis- 
appearance, in  some  neighbourhood  less  connected  with 
her.  He  had  therefore  leased  an  establishment  on  Long 
Island,  where  the  children  could  have  their  swimming 
and  tennis,  and  his  mother  her  usual  nearness  to  town, 
but  where  they  would  be  comparatively  inaccessible  to 
a  curious  press  and  public,  and  might  disappear  for  a 
grateful  interval.  The  life  at  Huntington  would  be  less 
formal  than  at  Crownlands,  but  the  house  he  had  taken 
was  comfortable  and  roomy;  there  would  be  plenty  of 
room  for  Nina's  girl  friends  and  Ward's  guests.  Miss 
Field,  Bottomley,  and  Hansen  would  please  see  to  it 
that  the  move  was  made  with  all  possible  expedition. 
He  would  join  the  family  there  every  week-end,  possibly 
now  and  then  during  the  week,  and  he  hoped  the  change 
would  do  them  all  good,  and  bridge  the  difficult  first 


154  HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER 

months  of — their  misfortune.  "I  have  explained  to 
my  mother  and  the  children,"  he  said,  quietly,  to  Harriet, 
"that  Mrs.  Carter  has  asked  for  a  divorce,  which  will,  of 
course,  be  immediately  arranged. 

"The  trip,"  he  ended,  turning  to  his  mother,  "is  only 
about  the  distance  this  is,  in  the  car.  I've  not  seen  the 
place,  but  I'm  confident  that  you'll  like  it.'* 

"I  shall  of  course  remain  there  steadily,  Richard," 
said  the  old  lady,  with  graciousness.  "The  length  of 
the  trip  makes  no  difference.  You  naturally  have  not 
had  time  to  consider — how  should  you — that  there  is  a 
change  in  your  circumstances,  my  son.  The  presence  of 
an  older  woman  in  your  house  is  imperative." 

He  smiled  at  her  patiently,  and  Ward  laughed  out- 
right. 

"You  mean  on  Miss  Field's  account,  Mother?" 

Madame  Carter  was  outraged  at  this  outspokenness; 
she  had  supposed  herself  somewhat  obscure. 

"If  I  do,  my  dear,  it  is  a  feeling  that  any  woman  would 
share  with  me,  although  possibly  men — as  the  less 
delicate — 

"Oh,  shucks,  Granny!"  Ward  said,  affectionately. 
"Where  did  you  ever  get  that  line  of  dope?" 

"Never  mind,  Ward,"  his  father  interrupted  in  turn. 
"We  needn't  discuss  that  now.  We'll  be  delighted  for 
every  hour  you  can  spend  with  us,  Mother,  whether  it's 
for  Miss  Field's  sake  or  ours.  She'll  take  care  of  us  all, 
and  herself  into  the  bargain,  I'm  sure  of  that.  Now, 
Miss  Field,  about  your  check  book;  I've  arranged 

"The  world,  my  dear,  is  less  blind  than  you  imagine!" 
his  mother  reminded  him  pleasantly,  gathering  her 
draperies  for  departure. 


HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER  155 

"Well,  about  your  checks,"  Richard  said,  with  his 
indulgent  smile,  when  she  was  gone.  "  Where  were  we  ? " 

"I  have  never  respected  and  admired  and  been  so 
grateful  to  any  human  being  as  I  am  to  you,"  thought 
Harriet.  "I  think  you  are  the  finest  and  the  strongest 
man  I  ever  saw  in  my  life!"  Aloud  she  said,  "I  can 
send  Bottomley  and  his  wife,  and  one  or  two  of  the 
girls  down  to-day,  if  you  think  best.  Then  he  can 
telephone  me  how  things  go." 

Nina  interposed  an  objection  on  the  score  of  the  tennis 
tournament  at  the  club,  was  overruled,  and  departed 
in  her  turn  to  discover,  as  Harriet  tactfully  suggested, 
the  condition  of  her  bathing  suit.  Ward  had  already 
gone  to  do  some  necessary  telephoning,  so  that  Harriet 
and  her  employer  were  alone. 

"Now,  Miss  Field,"  Richard  said,  when  various  de- 
tails of  management  were  delegated,  "you  understand 
that  you  are  in  charge  from  now  on.  My  mother  will — 
well,  you  know  how  to  handle  her!  She  is  old — enjoys 
her  little  bit  of  mischief  sometimes!  Anything  un- 
usual you  can  refer  to  me;  I  shall  be  there  every  week, 
anyway." 

He  paused,  and  ruffled  the  scattered  papers  that  were 
on  the  flat-topped  desk  before  him.  Harriet  watched  him 
anxiously.  She  thought  he  looked  tired  and  old,  and 
her  heart  ached  at  the  troubled  attempt  he  was  making 
to  simplify  the  tragedy  for  them  all.  He  was  not  hand- 
some, she  reflected,  but  surely  there  had  never  been 
keener  or  pleasanter  gray  eyes,  and  a  mouth  so  strong 
when  it  was  in  repose,  so  honest  when  it  smiled.  Not 
like  Ward's  ready  and  incessant  laughter,  not  like 
Royal  Blondin's  carefully  calculated  amusement. 


156  HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER 

Reaching  this  point  in  her  thought,  facing  him  with 
her  whole  beautiful  face  alive  with  emotion  and  interest, 
Harriet  smiled  herself,  involuntarily  and  faintly.  It 
was  a  smile  of  almost  daughterly  sympathy  and  com- 
radeship, friendly  and  innocent,  and  wholly  irresistible. 
As  usual,  her  masses  of  hair  were  trimly  pinned  and 
braided,  but  stray  little  golden  feathers  had  loosened 
about  the  soft  olive  forehead,  and  the  neck  of  her  thin 
whiteblousewasopen,  showing  the  straight  column  of  her 
young  throat;  the  effect  was  unstudied  and  youthful, 
almost  childishly  engaging  and  fresh. 

Richard,  catching  the  look,  was  perhaps  uncon- 
sciously cheered  by  it.  Even  at  forty-four,  and  under 
his  present  difficulties  and  harassments,  he  must  have 
been  dead  not  to  be  refreshed  by  the  vision  of  earnest 
youth  and  beauty  that  was  so  near  him  in  the  tempered 
summer  light  of  the  great  library. 

"Thank  you!"  he  said,  as  if  she  had  spoken.  "There 
is  one  more  thing,  Miss  Field,"  he  added,  idly  rumpling 
his  papers  again,  and  then  moving  his  fine  hand  to  his 
thick  brown  hair,  whose  shining  order  he  rumpled,  too. 
"About  this  man  Blondin.  Do  you  know  anything 
about  him?" 

A  more  direct  shot  at  her  innermost  fastnesses  could 
hardly  have  been  made.  Robbed  of  breath  and  senses 
by  the  suddenness  of  it,  and  with  dry  lips,  Harriet  could 
only  falter  a  repetition: 

"Know  anything  about  him?" 

"I  don't  know  much,  and  what  I  do  know  I  don't 
like,"  Richard  continued,  noticing  nothing  amiss  in  her 
manner,  perhaps  because  he  was  so  deeply  absorbed  in 
what  he  was  saying.  "He's  a  handsome  fellow;  he 


HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER  157 

knows  his  subject,  I  guess.  He's  the  modern  substitute 
for  the  mediaeval  minnesinger,"  he  added,  "a  sort  of 
father  confessor — and  the  women  like  to  talk  to  him! 
But  I  don't  like  him.  Now,  I  don't  know  how  he  feels 
to  Nina,  or  she  to  him,  but  as  you  know,  she  will  come 
into  her  uncle's  fortune  in  a  few  months,  unless  the 
trustee,  who  is  myself,  decides  to  defer  payment  for 
another  three  years.  I  merely  want  to  say  that  it  might 
be  as  well  to  intimate  to  this  young  fellow  that  there  are 
conditions  under  which  I  would  see  fit  to  defer  it,  and 
anything  that  brought  him  into  that  connection  would 
— well,  would  constitute  one!" 

"I  didn't  know  of  that!"  Harriet  exclaimed,  in  such 
obvious  relief  that  the  man  smiled  involuntarily. 

''Then  you  agree  with  me?"  he  asked,  eagerly. 

Here  in  the  sombre  sweetness  of  the  library,  with  the 
man  she  admired  and  respected  above  all  others  looking 
to  her  for  confidence  and  counsel,  what  could  she  say? 
Even  had  Royal  Blondin  been  present,  Harriet  might 
have  cast  every  secondary  consideration  to  the  winds 
as  readily.  As  it  was,  she  could  only  tell  him  the  truth. 

"Oh,  yes — yes!  I  told  Ward  that  I  would  rather  see 
Nina  dead!" 

"Why  do  you  say  so?"  Richard  asked.  "Now,  I'll 
tell  you  why  I  do,"  he  added,  as  Harriet  was,  not  un- 
naturally, groping  for  definite  phrases,  "I've  been 
watching  this  man.  I  had  his  record  looked  into. 
There's  nothing  extremely  bad  in  it — he  seems  to  be  a 
gentleman  adventurer.  But  there  was  an  affair  several 
years  ago,  his  name  mixed  into  some  divorce,  and  it 
developed  then  that  he  holds  rather  peculiar  ideas  about 
free  love,  natural  relationships — I  needn't  go  into  that. 


158  HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER 

I  don't  want  him  mixed  up  with  my  family.  I'm  going 
to  speak  to  Ward  about  it,  warn  him  that  his  sister's 
happiness  mustn't  be  risked  by  having  the  fellow  about 
at  all.  Meanwhile,  you  can  take  it  up  with  Nina. 
Just  let  her  see  that  she  isn't  the  only  girl  who  has  ever 
listened  to  him  reading  'In  a  Gondola.'  You  might 
hint  that  there  was  a  good  deal  of  talk  about  him  five 
or  six  years  ago;  there  was  a  Swedish  woman — I  didn't 
get  the  details! — but  I  imagine  trial  marriage  comes 
pretty  close  to  it.  You're  tired,"  said  Richard,  abruptly. 

"Indeed  I'm  not!"  the  girl  protested,  with  white  lips. 

"You  don't  imagine  the  man  is  serious?"  Richard 
asked,  alarmed  by  her  manner. 

"I  don't  know!"  Harriet  answered  at  random. 
"  They've — they've  hardly  known  each  other  three 
weeks!" 

"Ah,  well!  And  she's  only  seventeen,"  her  father 
said.  "Distract  her,  amuse  her — if  she's  inclined  to 
mope  a  bit.  Get  riding  horses \v 

No  time  to  think — no  time  to  trim  her  course. 
Harriet  must  plunge  blindly  ahead  now. 

"Mr.  Carter,  would  you — if  you  think  wise — give 
your  mother  a  hint  of  this?  Madame  Carter  is  ro- 
mantic, you  know— 

"Oh,  certainly!  Certainly!"  he  said,  approvingly. 
"I'll  speak  to  her.  We  must  keep  Nina  a  little  girl  this 
summer.  And,  Miss  Field — 

It  was  said  with  only  a  slight  change  in  the  pleasant 
voice.  But  it  brought  a  sudden  change  in  their  re- 
lationship, a  tightening  of  the  bonds  that  were  all 
Harriet's  world  now. 

" —  Miss  Field,  I  may  say  here  and  now  that  it  is  an 


HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER  159 

unmixed  privilege,  in  my  estimation,"  Richard  Carter 
said,  simply,  "that  my  daughter,  and  my  son,  too,  for  the 
matter  of  that,  should  have  the  advantage  of  your  in- 
fluence, and  your  example,  at  this  time.  Of  course  it 
infinitely  simplifies  my  own  problem.  But  I  don't  mean 
only  that.  I  mean  that  with  your  knowledge  of  the 
world,  of  work  and  poverty — I  know  them,  too,  I  know 
their  value — you  are  infinitely  qualified  to  balance  their 
whole  social  vision  just  now.  I  have  never  been  un- 
appreciative  of  the  value  of  a  simple,  good,  unspoiled 
woman  in  my  household.  I  have  seen  the  effect  in  a 
thousand  ways.  But  at  the  present  moment,  I  hardly 
know  where  I  could  turn  without  you.  I  can  only  hope 
that  in  some  way  the  Carters  may  be  able  to  repay 
you!" 

The  secretary's  shining  head  dropped,  and  she  rested 
her  elbow  on  the  table,  and  pressed  a  white  hand  tight 
across  her  eyes  for  a  moment  of  silence.  When  she 
faced  him  again  her  face  was  a  little  pale,  and  her 
magnificent  eyes  heavy  with  tears. 

"I  love  all  the  Carters,"  she  said,  simply.  "I  only 
wish  I  were — half  what  you  say!" 

And  without  another  word  she  stood  up,  folded  into 
a  tiny  oblong  the  paper  upon  which  she  had  been  mak- 
ing a  few  notes,  and  went  slowly  to  the  library  door. 
More  deeply  stirred  than  she  had  been  since  the  days  of 
her  passionate  girlhood,  she  turned  on  the  threshold  for 
a  look  of  farewell.  But  Richard  Carter  had  left  the 
desk,  and  was  kneeling  on  one  knee  before  his  safe;  he 
had  forgotten  her.  Harriet  went  across  the  hall, 
mounted  the  stairs,  and  found  her  own  room.  She  was 
hardly  conscious  of  what  she  was  doing  or  thinking. 


160  HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER 

"Oh,  what  shall  I  do?"  she  whispered.  "He  trusts 
me  to  protect  her!  Oh,  why  didn't  I — the  moment  I 
knew  that  Royal  was  thinking  of  her — why  didn't  I  go 
to  him  then,  and  make  a  clean  breast  of  it  all!  Now— 
now  I've  promised!  And  they  trust  me  and  love  me — 
and  what  shall  I  do!  Oh,  God,"  whispered  Harriet, 
sinking  on  her  knees  beside  the  bed,  "You  know  that  I 
am  good — You  know  that  I  can  really  help  them  all — 
can  really  protect  the  girl!  You  know  how  I  have 
chosen  what  was  fine  and  good,  all  these  years,  how  I 
have  longed  for  an  opportunity  to  be  useful  and  happy! 
Don't  let  him  come  into  my  life  again,  and  spoil  it  again. 
Don't  let  Richard  Carter  lose  faith  in  me,  and  despise 
me!  I  don't  know  what's  the  matter  with  me,"  sobbed 
Harriet,  burying  her  brimming  eyes  in  the  pillows;  "I 
never  cry,  I  haven't  cried  like  this  for  years  and  years! 
I  think  I'm  losing  my  mind!" 


CHAPTER  XII 

THE  move  to  Huntington  was  made  quickly  and 
quietly,  and  lazy  weeks  followed,  to  Harriet  weeks  of 
almost  cloudless  content.  She  and  Nina  walked  and 
rode,  swam  and  practised  their  tennis  stroke,  paddled 
about  in  a  canoe,  motored  over  miles  of  exquisite 
country.  Madame  Carter  was  often  with  them,  sug- 
gesting, disapproving,  meddling,  awaiting  her  chance  to 
score.  Ward,  early  in  August,  after  a  serious  talk  with 
Harriet,  joined  some  friends  for  a  motor  run  of  three 
thousand  miles,  and  presently  was  sending  them  post 
cards  from  Monterey  and  Tahoe.  There  was  naturally 
no  entertaining  or  formal  social  life  for  the  family  this 
summer,  but  Richard  almost  always  brought  men  down 
for  golf,  over  the  week-ends,  and  seemed,  if  quiet  and 
reserved,  to  be  well  content. 

They  had  been  in  the  new  home  only  a  few  days  when 
Harriet  had  reason  to  stop  short  in  a  busy  morning  of 
unpacking  with  one  hand  upon  her  heart,  and  a  great 
satisfaction  in  her  eyes.  Nina,  reading  from  a  note 
from  Royal  Blondin,  announced  the  sensational  news 
that  he  had  broken  his  ankle.  He  was  with  friends  at 
Newport,  and  must  remain  there  now  for  weeks,  perhaps 
a  month.  Nina  was  please  to  write  him,  and  to  give  his 
regard  to  Miss  Field,  and  ask  her  not  to  forget  him. 

Harriet  was  quite  willing  to  overlook  the  delicate 
menace  of  the  message  for  the  sake  of  the  other  news. 

161 


162  HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER 

For  several  weeks  they  were  safe.  Nina  did  not  know 
the  family  Royal  had  been  visiting,  there  was  a  long 
interval  before  she  could  possibly  see  him  again.  He 
would  write  to  the  girl,  of  course,  and  Harriet  knew 
with  what  absorbing  emotion  she  would  look  for  his 
letters.  But  Nina  was  young  and  Nina  wrote  wretch- 
edly, and  anything  might  happen,  thought  Harriet,  con- 
soling herself  with  a  vague  argument  that  was  in  itself 
youthful,  too. 

Old  Madame  Carter  was  the  only  stumbling  block 
now;  there  was  no  question  of  her  definite  hostility.  It 
was  partly  the  jealousy  of  age  for  youth,  of  departed 
beauty  for  beauty  in  its  prime,  but  it  was  mainly 
actuated  by  the  old  lady's  sense  of  pride,  her  firm  be- 
lief that  there  was  some  mysterious  merit  of  birth  in 
the  Carter  blood,  and  that  to  friendship  with  the  Car- 
ters a  mere  upstart,  a  secretary,  a  working-woman, 
could  not  with  any  justice  aspire.  In  a  thousand  ways, 
many  of  them  approaching  actual  mendacity,  she  under- 
mined Harriet's  usefulness,  and  annoyed  and  distracted 
the  domestic  force.  If  Harriet  decided  that  the  weather 
was  too  warm  for  an  out-of-door  luncheon,  Madame 
Carter  pleasantly  overruled  her,  and  there  was  much 
running  to  and  fro  for  the  change.  Messages  un- 
delivered by  the  old  lady  were  attributed  to  the  secre- 
tary's carelessness,  and  there  was  more  than  one  oc- 
casion when  Harriet  had  no  choice  between  silence 
toward  Madame  Carter  or  the  flat  accusation  of  un- 
truthfulness. 

Every  hour  under  his  roof,  however,  helped  to  con- 
vince her  that  Richard  Carter  was  unaware  of  very 
little  that  transpired  there.  His  reading  of  Nina's 


HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER  163 

young  secret  had  proved  that;  Harriet  never  re- 
membered his  ready  allusion  to  "In  a  Gondola"  with- 
out surprise.  How  he  had  managed  to  obtain  that 
particular  detail  she  could  not  imagine.  But  she 
hoped  that  he  read  the  relationship  between  her  and  his 
mother  as  truly,  and  that  time  would  reconcile  the  old 
lady  to  her  presence  in  the  house. 

With  September  came  changes.  Blondin  wrote  that 
he  was  limping  about  with  a  stick,  and  wanted  to  limp 
down  to  them  as  soon  as  they  would  ask  him.  Ward 
was  home  again,  as  always  irresponsible,  a  little  older 
and  in  some  vague  way  a  little  coarser,  Harriet  thought, 
but  still  a  most  enlivening  element  in  the  quiet  house- 
hold. Madame  Carter  had  brought  with  her,  for 
several  weeks'  stay,  a  friend  of  Isabelle's,  a  pretty, 
dashing  little  grass  widow,  Mrs.  Tabor.  The  resolute 
brightness  and  sweetness  with  which  Ida  Tabor  at- 
tempted to  amuse  Richard  gave  Harriet  some  hint  of 
the  plan  which  was  taking  shape  in  the  back  of  his 
mother's  head.  But  she  could  only  make  Mrs.  Tabor 
comfortable,  and  fit  her  somehow  into  the  youthful 
plans  of  the  household. 

"Miss  Harriet,"  Nina  said,  without  preamble,  lying 
flat  on  the  gently  rocking  float,  and  catching  little  hand- 
fuls  of  water  as  she  spoke,  "what'll  I  wear  to-morrow?" 

Harriet  had  already  settled  this  question  several 
times,  but  she  was  always  patient  with  Nina. 

"White  is  prettiest,"  she  said;  "didn't  we  decide  for 
the  organdie?" 

"The  white  with  the  rolled  hem,"  Nina  said  with 
unction,  "and  pale  pink  stockings,  and  white  shoes." 

"That  will  do  nicely!"  Harriet,  always  happiest  in 


164  HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER 

the  water,  was  sitting  on  the  edge  of  the  float,  with  her 
feet  idly  splashing.  A  glorious  September  sun  blazed 
down  upon  the  water,  there  was  absolute  silence  up  and 
down  the  curving  shore.  Above  the  plumy  tops  of  the 
trees,  rising  abruptly  from  the  beach  with  its  weather- 
burned  bath  houses,  the  gables  and  porches  of  the  new 
home  showed  here  and  there.  There  were  other  country 
mansions  scattered  up  and  down  beside  the  blue  waters 
of  the  Sound,  but  the  Carters  had  no  sense  of  having 
neighbours. 

Nina,  Ward,  and  Harriet  fairly  lived  in  the  water,  and 
Ward  had  unconsciously  served  his  father's  cause  by 
bringing  home  with  him  a  tongue-tied  pleasant  youth 
named  Saunders  Archer,  whose  presence  in  the  house 
had  helped  to  keep  Nina  pleased  and  amused.  She 
had  already  imparted  to  Harriet  the  valuable  informa- 
tion that  Saunders  had  never  known  his  mother,  and 
had  never  had  a  sister,  "  and  of  course  I  have  always 
been  such  an  oddity  in  the  family,"  said  Nina,  "that  I 
got  right  at  his  confidence  in  that  dreadful  way  of 
mine!  He  said  he  didn't  know  why  he  talked  to  me  so 
frankly." 

Harriet  had  seen  to  it  that  a  variety  of  delightful 
plans  awaited  the  young  people  at  every  turn.  The 
retirement  natural  after  the  recent  domestic  catastrophe 
was  too  dangerous  to  risk  now.  They  drove  to  Piping 
Rock,  to  Easthampton;  they  yachted  and  swam;  and 
the  evenings  were  filled  with  riotous  entertainments  of 
their  own  devising,  and  once  or  twice  with  country  club 
dances  ten  or  twenty  miles  away.  And  Harriet  hoped, 
hoped,  hoped,  feverishly,  incessantly,  wearyingly,  that 
the  danger  was  past. 


HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER  165 

But  Amy  came  down,  mild  and  colourless  as  ever,  yet 
still  more  poised,  more  socially  adept  than  Nina,  and 
with  Amy  innocently  diverting  Saunders's  bashful 
attentions,  Nina  returned  to  thoughts  of  Royal.  The 
"to-morrow"  for  which  the  white  organdie  had  been 
selected  was  to  bring  Royal  for  his  first  visit  to  Hunting- 
ton.  He  was  coming  down  with  Madame  Carter  and 
Mrs.  Tabor  in  her  car.  The  man,  the  old  lady  had 
protested  indignantly,  had  already  been  asked  to  visit 
them,  and  it  was  preposterous,  just  because  Richard 
fancied  every  man  who  looked  at  Nina  was  in  love  with 
her,  that  he  should  be  insulted!  No  matter,  Richard 
said,  in  an  aside  to  Harriet,  accepting  the  situation 
philosophically,  there  was  no  need  for  suddenness. 
Harriet  tried  to  be  philosophical,  too.  Richard  was 
bringing  two  men  down  for  golf  this  week-end,  and 
with  Saunders  and  Amy,  Royal  and  Madame  Carter 
and  Mrs.  Tabor,  the  house  would  be  filled.  She  had 
plenty  to  do  with  the  managing,  the  endless  details 
that  were  brought  her  mercilessly,  hour  after  hour,  by 
maids  and  housekeeper.  And  yet  under  her  quiet 
busyness  and  her  happy  hours  with  the  young 
people  there  lurked  incessantly  a  fretted  sense  of  danger 
approaching. 

Something  of  this  was  in  her  mind  as  she  and  Nina 
basked  on  the  gently  heaving  float,  in  the  sunshine. 
Amy,  with  no  particular  desire  to  hide  the  fact  that  she 
was  a  better  swimmer  than  Nina,  had  essayed  a  swim 
to  the  buoy,  a  hundred  yards  out  in  the  channel.  Nina, 
therefore,  was  naturally  turned  to  thoughts  of  a  male 
who  quite  frankly  did  not  admire  Amy;  and  she  talked 
incessantly  of  Blondin.  Harriet,  the  best  swimmer 


166  HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER 

among  them,  remained  with  Nina,  and  now  fancied  she 
saw  an  opening  for  a  little  talk  she  felt  extremely 
timely. 

"Mr.  Blondin  likes  you,  Nina,  just  because  you 
aren't  flirtatious  and  silly,  like  the  other  girls.  But  he 
isn't  the  sort  of  man  to  get  very  deeply  interested  in  any 
woman,  dear." 

"No,  I  know  he's  not!"  Nina  said,  quickly,  turning 
suddenly  red,  and  looking  attentively  at  the  print  of 
her  wet  hand  on  the  dry,  hot  boards. 

"And  I  would  be  sorry  if  he  were,"  Harriet  pursued, 
not  too  seriously,  "for  I  want  you  to  marry  a  man  of 
your  own  age,  when  you  do  marry,  and  not  a  man  who 
has  had — well,  other  affairs,  who  has  that  confidential, 
flattering  manner  with  all  women!" 

"If  you  think  I  don't  realize  perfectly  that  you 
don't  like  Royal  Blondin,  you  are  mistaken!"  Nina 
said,  airily,  even  with  a  yawn.  "I  am  perfectly  able  to 
manage  my  own  affairs  in  that  direction ! " 

"Yes,    I    know,    dear.     But    we    want    you — 
Harriet  was  beginning  pacifically.     But  Nina  angrily 
interrupted : 

"Oh,  I  know  you  and  Father  talk  about  me,  if 
that's  what  you  mean ! " 

"No,  dear,  listen.  We  want  you  to  see  other  types 
of  men,  to  see  all  kinds.  You  will  be  rich,  Nina 

"Why  don't  you  say  that  Royal  is  after  my  money!" 
Nina  burst  out,  with  symptoms  of  tears.  The  ready 
name  frightened  Harriet  afresh;  she  knew  that  they 
corresponded,  that  grass  was  not  growing  under  Royal's 
feet.  She  and  Nina  were  sitting  close  together  now, 
their  drying  hair  tossed  backward,  their  faces  flushed. 


HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER  167 

"The  first  man  I  ever  really  liked,"  Nina  said,  with  a 
heaving  breast,  "the  first  man  who  ever  understood 
me !" 

"Nina,"  Harriet  said,  "you  don't  want  to  have  to 
write  your  husband  a  check  on  your  honeymoon  ? " 

She  felt  it  a  cruel  cut;  but  seventeen  years  of  flattery 
and  smoothness  had  armed  Nina  in  impregnable 
complacence.  She  gave  a  sneering  laugh  that  trembled 
on  the  brink  of  tears,  and  tried  to  control  a  mouth  that 
was  shaking  with  anger.  One  look  of  utter  scorn  she 
did  manage,  then  she  shrugged  not  so  much  her  shoul- 
ders as  her  whole  body,  and  flung  herself  furiously  into 
the  water.  Harriet  called  "Nina!"  first  impatiently, 
and  then  coaxingly.  But  the  younger  girl  swam 
steadily  to  the  shore,  and  Harriet  saw  her  a  minute 
later,  shaking  herself  outside  the  shower,  before  she 
disappeared  into  the  big  bath  house.  With  a  grave 
face,  as  she  absentmindedly  tossed  and  spread  the 
glorious  mass  of  her  glittering  hair,  Harriet  sat  on, 
pondering.  They  had  reached  a  crisis;  Nina,  between 
delicious  confidences  to  Amy  and  aggrieved  appeal  to 
Royal,  would  commit  herself  now.  There  was  no 
help  for  it;  she,  Harriet,  must  act. 

Amy  and  Saunders  swam  by  her,  breathless  and 
screaming  as  they  made  for  shore,  and  fought  and 
shrieked  under  the  shower.  Then  they,  too,  entered  the 
dressing  rooms,  and  there  was  absolute  silence  in  the 
world.  Harriet  had  entirely  forgotten  Ward,  until  he 
swam  under  the  float,  and  with  a  characteristic  yell, 
rose  streaming  like  a  seal  under  her  very  feet. 

Genuinely  startled,  she  gratified  him  with  a  scream, 
and  they  both  laughed  like  children  as  he  flung  himself 


168  HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER 

dripping  on  the  hot  boards,  and  proceeded  to  bake 
luxuriously  in  the  sun. 

"It's  the  most  gorgeous  thing  I  ever  saw,  do  you 
know  that?"  he  asked,  with  one  hand  touching  the 
river  of  sparkling  gold  that  blazed  and  tumbled  on  her 
shoulders.  "Listen,  Harriet,  do  you  remember  the 
little  talk  we  had  some  weeks  ago?" 

"Perfectly,"  she  said,  a  little  unwillingly. 

"Before  I  went  to  California,  I  mean,"  he  further 
elucidated. 

"Yes,  I  know  what  you  mean,  Ward!" 

"Well,  how  about  it?"  the  boy  said,  after  a  pause. 
Harriet,  her  beautiful  flushed  face  framed  in  curtains  of 
shining  hair,  was  regarding  him  steadily,  and  almost 
sorrowfully. 

"  Do  you  mean  to  ask  if  I  have  changed  ? " 

"Well—  "  he  looked  up.  "I  thought  you  might! 
They  do — the  ladies!" 

"It  wouldn't  be  fair  to  you.  Ward,"  the  girl  said, 
slowly,  after  a  pause.  "  I  love  you,  but  I  don't  love  you 
the  way  your  wife  will ! " 

"Why  do  you  talk  like  that — it's  all  bunk!"  he  said, 
impatiently.  "If  you  try  it  and  don't  like  it,  why,  you 
can  get  out,  can't  you  ? " 

"Ward,  don't  say  those  things!"  the  girl  said,  dis- 
tressedly. 

"I  want  you!"  he  said,  sullenly.  "I'm  crazy  about 
you!  MyGod- 

"Ward,  please  don't  touch  me!"  she  said,  sharply, 
getting  to  her  feet  with  a  spring,  as  he  put  his  arm 

about  her.  "Don't !  I  shall  tell  your  father  if 

you  do!" 


HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER  169 

"You  didn't  talk  that  way  at  Crownlands  last 
June,"  the  man  said,  sulkily.  "I  don't  see  what  has 
made  such  a  difference  now!" 

"I  think  perhaps  I'm  different,  Ward.  The  sum- 
mer—  Harriet's  voice  died  into  silence.  Her  eyes 
were  fixed  upon  the  figure  of  a  man  who  came  down  the 
little  pier,  and  dove  into  the  shining  water.  Two 
minutes  later,  with  a  great  gasp  of  satisfaction,  Richard 
Carter  drew  himself  up  beside  them. 

"Ha!  That  is  something  like!  My  Lord,  the  water 
is  beautiful  to-day!  How  about  the  buoy?  Who 
swims  with  me  to  the  buoy  ? " 

"Come  on,  Harriet!"  Ward  said,  poising. 

The  girl  hesitated,  glanced  toward  the  shore. 
Saunders,  with  a  white-clad  girl  on  each  side  of  him,  was 
walking  up  to  the  house. 

"  Did  your  friends  come  down  with  you,  Mr.  Carter  ? " 
she  asked,  before  quite  abandoning  all  responsibilities. 

"Briggs  and  Gardiner — yes.  They're  getting  into 
golf  clothes.  We're  going  to  play  nine  holes  anyway, 
at  the  club.  What  time  is  dinner?" 

"  Eight  o'clock.     Unless  you  prefer 

"No,  no!  Eight  is  fine.  We'll  be  back  at  seven. 
My  mother  and  Mrs.  Tabor  and  Blondin  will  be  down 
from  town  at  about  six." 

Harriet  rose,  too,  and  bundled  the  glory  of  her  hair 
into  a  blue  rubber  cap  that  made  her  look  like  a  beauti- 
ful rosy  French  peasant.  With  no  further  speech  she 
made  a  splendid  dive,  and  the  men  followed  her. 

It  was  one  of  life's  beautiful  hours,  she  thought,  as  in 
a  great  splash  of  salt  water  she  reached  the  buoy,  and 
hung  laughing  and  panting  to  its  restless  bulk.  Ward 


170  HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER 

had  preceded  her  by  a  full  minute,  Richard  was  half  a 
minute  behind  her.  With  much  vainglorious  boasting 
from  the  men,  they  all  rested  there  before  the  homeward 
swim.  Harriet  hardly  spoke,  her  cup  was  full  to  the 
brim  with  a  mysterious  felicity  born  of  the  summer  hour, 
the  heaving  waters,  and  the  joyous  mood  of  father  and 
son.  When  Richard  praised  her  swimming  she  flushed 
in  the  severe  blue  cap,  and  the  blue  eyes  met  his  with 
the  shy  pleasure  of  a  child.  It  was  while  she  was 
hastily  dressing,  in  the  hot  bath  house  a  little  later, 
that  a  sudden  thought  came  to  her,  and  flushed  the 
lovely  face  again,  and  brought  her  to  a  sudden  pause. 
A  tremendous  thought,  that  made  her  breast  rise 
suddenly,  and  her  eyes  fix  themselves  vaguely  on  space 
for  a  long,  long  minute.  Her  palms  were  damp,  and 
she  put  them  over  her  hot  cheeks.  But  that — she 
whispered  in  the  deeps  of  her  soul,  that  was  nonsense! 

When  Blondin  arrived  she  did  not  see  him,  for  Mrs. 
Tabor  and  Madame  Carter,  elaborately  entering  at 
five,  reported  him  "perfectly  wonderful"  on  the  trip 
down,  and  that  he  had  shown  such  transports  at  the 
sight  of  the  woods  and  the  water  that  they  had  put  him 
down  perhaps  a  mile  away,  to  walk  alone  for  the  rest  of 
the  way,  and  commune  with  his  own  exquisite  soul. 
The  expectantly  waiting  Nina,  at  this,  followed  Amy 
upstairs  in  the  direction  of  the  white  organdie,  and 
Harriet  felt  a  little  premonitory  chill. 

"Oh,  Miss  Field!"  said  Madame  Carter's  voice,  an 
hour  later,  as  Harriet  passed  her  door.  The  old  lady 
had  been  talking  with  her  grandson,  while  she  was 
resting,  magnificent  in  a  pale  blue  negligee,  but  her 


HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER  171 

maid  was  now  extremely  busy  at  the  toilet  table,  and 
an  elaborate  dinner  costume  was  laid  out  upon  the  bed. 
Harriet  entered. 

"Well,  how  has  the  little  household  been  running?" 
asked  Madame  Carter,  who  had  been  away  for  almost  a 
week.  "Miss  Nina  looks  sweet."  And  without  wait- 
ing for  a  reply,  which  indeed  would  have  been  of  no 
interest  to  her,  she  added,  blandly,  "Ward  tells  me  that 
you  are  a  beautiful  swimmer!" 

"Ward  did  not  find  that  out  to-day,"  Harriet  said, 
mildly,  thus  informed  that  her  radiant  hour  with  both 
the  Carters  was  known  to  the  mother  and  grandmother. 

"My  son  is  a  brilliant  man,"  said  Madame  Carter, 
with  apparent  irrelevance,  "but  the  most  brilliant  men 
in  the  world  are  the  stupidest  in  domestic  life,  isn't  that 
so?" 

Harriet,  ready  for  the  knife,  said  pleasantly  that 
perhaps  it  was  sometimes  so. 

"Now  my  son,"  Madame  Carter  said,  confidentially, 
"is  a  man  of  scrupulous  honour.  But  he  is  capa- 
ble of  placing  a  young  woman,  and" — she  bowed 
graciously — "a  beautiful  young  woman,  in  a  very  false 
position!  I  confess  that  if  I  were  in  that  young 
woman's  place,  I  should  resent  it.  I  should  feel — 

"If  you  mean  me,"  Harriet  said,  interrupting  the 
smooth,  innocent  old  voice,  "  I  assure  you  that  I  do  not 
feel  my  position  here  at  all  false —  '  ["She  always  gets 
me  wild,  and  gets  me  talking,"  Harriet  added  to  her- 
self, with  anger  at  her  own  weakness,  "but  I  can't  help 
it!"]  And  aloud  she  finished,  "I  am  Nina's  companion, 
and  in  a  sense,  housekeeper " 

"Pilgrim   is   housekeeper,"   Mrs.    Carter   corrected. 


172  HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER 

Miss  Pilgrim,  a  one-time  maid,  was  really  Mrs.  Bottom- 
ley,  and  had  been  manager  below  stairs  for  a  long  time. 

"There  are  things  Pilgrim  cannot  do,"  Harriet 
suggested. 

"I  feel  myself  the  difficulty  of  explaining  your 
position  here!"  said  the  old  lady,  raising  both  hands 
and  arms  in  an  elaborate  gesture  of  deprecation,  and 
smiling  kindly.  "You  put  me  in  a  false  position,  too!" 

But  Harriet  had  now  reached  the  point  she  always 
did  reach,  sooner  or  later,  in  these  talks  with  Madame 
Carter,  the  point  of  mentally  pitying  the  old  lady,  and 
recollection  that  after  all  her  mischievous  tongue  could 
do  no  real  harm. 

"You  will  have  to  discuss  that  with  Mr.  Carter,  of 
course!"  It  was  always  ace  of  trumps,  and  Harriet 
only  blamed  herself  for  ever  beginning  a  conversation 
with  anything  else.  Now  she  retired  from  the  field  with 
all  honours,  forcing  herself  to  dismiss  the  unpleasant 
memory  the  instant  she  was  out  of  reach  of  Madame 
Carter's  voice.  But  the  old  lady  fumed  for  an  hour, 
and  took  up  the  subject  with  her  son  when  he  came 
dutifully  in  to  take  her  down  to  dinner. 

"Ida  feels  as  I  do,"  she  said,  when  Mrs.  Tabor, 
charming  in  blue,  joined  them  on  the  way  downstairs. 
Richard  felt  a  sensation  of  anger.  It  was  poor  taste  to 
involve  a  casual  stranger  like  Ida  Tabor  in  this  rather 
delicate  family  discussion.  But  he  thought  that  the 
little  widow  showed  excellent  sense  in  her  rather 
slangy  fashion. 

"Well,  of  course,  she's  filled  the  bill  this  summer, 
Dick,  ab-so-loo-tely!  But,  let  me  tell  you,  that  Nina 
of  yours  is  beginning  to  take  notice,  and  she  won't  need 


HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER  173 

a  governess  forever!  With  you  to  keep  an  eye  on 
things  generally,  Nina  will  soon  be  able  to  manage 
Dad's  affairs.  I  know  just  how  you  feel — never'll  for- 
get how  utterly  blank  I  felt  when  Jack  Tabor  just 
quietly  packed  his  trunks  and  walked  out!  Why,  I 
couldn't  get  hold  of  myself  for  months!" 

"Where  is  Miss  Field?"  Richard  was  looking  for  the 
demure  blue  gown  and  the  bright  head  as  they  joined 
the  young  group  downstairs. 

"She  is  not  coming  down,  Richard,"  his  mother 
explained. 

"Why  not?"  he  asked,  abruptly.  His  mother  gave 
him  a  magnificent  look,  warning,  silencing,  appealing. 

"I'll  explain  it  to  you  later,  dear!"  she  said,  half- 
annoyed  and  half-pleading.  "You  may  announce 
dinner,  Bottomley!" 

Bottomley  duly  announced  dinner.  But  he  might 
have  added  something  to  the  conversation,  had  he  been 
permitted.  He  had  had  some  simple  and  direct  con- 
versation with  Madame  Carter,  not  an  hour  before,  and 
had  in  consequence  sent  up  a  dinner  tray  to  Miss  Field. 
Rosa,  taking  the  tray,  had  been  instructed  to  say  simply 
that  Madame  Carter  had  told  Mr.  Bottomley  that 
Miss  Field  wished  her  dinner  upstairs.  But  Rosa  was 
perfectly  in  touch  with  the  situation,  too,  and  carried 
the  news  below  stairs  that  Miss  Field  had  got  as  red  as 
fire,  and  had  stood  looking  from  Rosa  to  the  tray,  and 
from  the  tray  to  Rosa,  for — well,  full  five  minutes, 
before  she  had  said,  "Thank  you,  Rosa,  you  may  put  it 
there  on  the  table!" 

Madame  Carter  sparkled  her  best  that  evening. 
Mrs.  Tabor,  too,  carried  along  the  conversation  noisily 


174  HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER 

if  not  brilliantly,  until  the  young  people  got  well  under 
way.  Richard  was  rather  silent,  but  then  he  was 
always  silent.  And  after  awhile  the  rich,  significant 
tones  of  Royal  Blondin  were  heard.  It  was  well  after 
nine  when  they  all  drifted  out  into  the  cool  dimness  of 
the  porch  for  coffee;  Ward  started  music,  Saunders  and 
Amy  danced.  The  men  attempted  a  little  pool,  but 
were  too  weary,  and  by  half-past  ten  Mrs.  Tabor  had 
tripped  upstairs  after  the  young  girls,  with  a  buoyant 
good-night  for  her  host,  and  the  old  lady,  lingering  for  a 
minute,  had  a  chance  to  explain. 

"About  Miss  Field,  dear.  I  gave  her  just  a  kindly 
hint  as  to  the  propriety  of  her  being  always  present  at 
dinner,  and  she  was  sensible  enough  to  take  it!  Now 
and  then,  of  course 

He  jerked  impatiently. 

"I  wish  you  would  be  a  trifle  more  careful  with  your 
kindly  hints,  Mother!  Miss  Field  is  a  most  exceptional 
girl- 

"My  dear  boy,"  said  the  old  lady,  fanning  rapidly, 
"I  could  get  you  a  dozen  women  infinitely  more  cap- 
able- 

" — and  I  don't  want  her  feelings  hurt!"  Richard 
finished,  with  a  return  to  his  usual  gentleness. 

"You  won't  hurt  her  feelings!"  his  mother  predicted, 
roundly.  "Not  while  the  entire  household  is  taking 
her  orders,  and  the  bank  honouring  her  checks — oh,  no, 
my  dear!  don't  worry  about  that!" 

"To-morrow  night,"  Richard  said,  half  to  himself, 
"I  shall  make  it  a  point  to  ask  her  to  come  down  to 
dinner.  If  she  prefers  her  room " 

"Richard,"  his  mother  said,  in  a  low,  furious  tone, 


HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER  ,  175 

"if  you  do  that,  you  may  be  kind  enough  to  excuse  me! 
While  poor  Isabelle  was  here,  while  Nina  was  a  child,  it 
was  all  well  enough!  But  nothing  could  be  more  un- 
fortunate for  your  daughter,  for  your  young  son,  than 
to  have  any  fresh  gossip — the  sort  of  thing  people  are 
only  too  ready  to  say,  and  are  beginning  to  say  now!" 

"Why,  how  you  do  cook  up  things  from  whole  cloth, 
Mother!"  the  man  said  with  his  indulgent  smile. 
"You  see  the  thing  too  closely,  you  are  right  in  the 
middle  of  it!" 

"I  see  that  Harriet  Field  is  an  extremely  pretty 
woman,"  his  mother  said,  hotly. 

Richard  looked  from  the  tip  of  his  unlighted  cigar  into 
his  mother's  eyes,  looked  back  again. 

"Why,  yes,  I  suppose  she  is!  "he  said,  thoughtfully. 
"Gardiner  said  something  about  it  just  now.  Said 
she'd  make  her  fortune  in  the  movies." 

"I  don't  know  about  that,"  Madame  Carter  said, 
indifferently. 

"Why  can't  you  consider  that  we  are  fortunate  to 
have  her,  Mother?" 

"Because  I  don't  want  to  see  you  in  a  false  position 
before  the  world,  my  son.  You  must  consider " 

The  man  kissed  her  hand  lightly,  with  a  laugh  that 
closed  the  conversation. 

"Consider  nothing!  It's  all  nonsense!"  he  said,  and 
as  she  began  her  leisurely  and  dignified  ascent  he 
turned  toward  the  porch  and  the  solace  of  his  cigar. 
While  he  and  the  other  men  smoked  and  mused,  he 
decided  to  see  Harriet  and  have  a  long  talk  with  her  the 
next  day,  to  tell  her  that  no  matter  what  his  mother 
said  or  did  her  word  in  the  house  was  law,  to  assure  her 


176  HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER 

that  in  his  eyes  at  least  her  position  was  secure  beyond 
any  question.  Even  with  the  varied  group  at  the  table 
to-night,  he  had  missed  her;  there  was  an  influence  even 
in  her  silences,  and  a  certain  power  in  her  very  glances. 

"Why  the  boy  isn't  heels  over  head  in  love  with  her  I 
don't  know!"  he  thought  of  Ward.  And  when 
Gardiner,  who  had  had  merely  a  chance  encounter  with 
her  in  the  hall  spoke  again  of  the  gold  hair  and  dark 
blue  eyes,  Richard  fell  into  a  benevolent  dream  of  the 
little  secretary  married  to  Gardiner,  who  was  rich  and  a 
bachelor,  and  a  very  decent  fellow,  too.  He  fancied 
young  Mrs.  Gardiner  coming  to  visit  the  Carters,  and 
himself  toasting  her  at  a  formal  dinner,  and  wondered  if 
he  had  ever  seen  Harriet  in  evening  dress.  He  would 
tell  her  to-morrow  that  she  must  get  an  evening  gown. 
Richard,  always  the  man  of  business,  selected  the  hour 
on  Sunday  that  would  be  most  suitable  for  his  talk 
with  her.  He  and  the  other  men  would  get  up  at  seven, 
and  go  to  the  country  club,  where  they  would  manage 
eighteen  holes  before  breakfast  was  served  on  the  club 
porch,  the  famous  chicken  Maryland  and  waffles  of 
which  the  golfers  dreamed  for  six  days.  After  that  they 
might  get  into  a  game  of  bridge,  pleasantly  tired,  well 
fed;  there  were  less  agreeable  things  to  do  than  sit  on 
the  shady  club  porch,  ordering  mild  drinks,  and  quarrel- 
ling over  two  or  three  hard-fought  rubbers.  Nina  and  her 
crowd  were  to  lunch  at  the  club;  last  Sunday  Harriet 
Field  had  come  out  with  Nina  and  looked  on  for  a  hand 
or  two,  other  people  were  drifting  about,  and  it  was 
extremely  social  and  agreeable. 

But  he  would  be  home  to  dress  for  dinner,  at  six,  and 
then  he  would  get  hold  of  Miss  Field,  and  somewhat 


HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER  177 

clear  up  the  situation.  Richard  slept  upon  the  resolu- 
tion, and  arose  in  the  sweet  summer  morning  to  a 
satisfied  recollection  of  it.  He  looked  from  his  window 
into  the  green,  warm  garden,  and  saw  Miss  Field  her- 
self emerging  from  the  wood,  and  Nina's  friend,  Blon- 
din,  beside  her.  Harriet  had  evidently  been  to  church; 
she  carried  a  prayer-book;  a  broad-brimmed  hat  made 
the  slender  figure,  from  this  distance  anyway,  extremely 
picturesque.  The  man  and  she  were  in  earnest  con- 
versation. 

"Now  that"  thought  Richard,  still  paternally  busy 
with  matrimonial  plans  for  her,  "that  wouldn't  do  at 
all.  I  hope  she  isn't  wasting  any  time  on  that  fellow. 
He's  clever,  he  has  a  good  manner,  but  by  George,  that 
girl  could  marry  any  man,  and  make  him  a  magnificent 
wife,  too!  I  rather  thought  we'd  disposed  of  this 
Blondin,  anyway!  But  they  seem  friendly 
enough " 

For  they  had  parted  with  a  nod  unmistakably 
familiar. 


CHAPTER  XIII 

BLONDIN  had  been  waiting  for  her  at  the  church  door. 
Harriet,  coming  out,  had  indicated  without  a  word  that 
he  might  walk  beside  her.  The  service  had  been  ill- 
attended,  and  the  few  women  who  drifted  away  from 
it  did  not  walk  in  their  direction,  so  they  found  them- 
selves alone.  Harriet  had  been  realizing  ever  since  Kis 
arrival  that  Blondin  had  lost  none  of  his  unique  and 
baffling  charm.  His  handsome  person,  his  unusual 
voice,  his  fashion  of  dreamily  contributing  to-  the  con- 
versation some  viewpoint  entirely  unexpected  and 
fresh,  his  utter  indifference  to  general  opinion — these 
made  him  a  distinct  entity  in  any  group,  and  would  ac- 
count for  Nina's  immediately  renewed  alliance,  and  for 
the  general  disposition  on  the  part  of  the  household  to 
accept  him  on  his  own  terms. 

Harriet  opened  the  conversation  this  morning  with  a 
frank  yet  reluctant  confession. 

"I'm  so  sorry,  Roy!  But  it  is  only  fair  to  you  to  say 
that  I've  changed.  You  will  have  to  do  what  you 
think  fit  about  it,  of  course.  But  I  can't  pretend  that 
I'm — I'm  playing  your  game  any  longer." 

"What  game?"  Blondin,  falling  into  graceful  step  be- 
side her,  asked  pleasantly. 

"I  mean  any  possible — idea  you  might  have  of 
Nina!"  Harriet  said,  bravely. 

"Oh,    Nina!"    he    shrugged    his    shoulders   lightly. 

178 


HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER  179 

"Don't  take  me  too  seriously,  my  dear  Harriet,"  he 
said.  "Why,  whenever  we  are  alone  together,  should 
you  promptly  begin  to  cross-question  me  about  that 
little  person?  Look  about  you — isn't  this  a  divine 
morning?  I  always  rather  fancy  September,  somehow. 
It's  dry,  panting,  finished — and  yet  there's  something 
about  the  mornings  and  the  evenings " 

Harriet  made  a  faint,  impatient  ejaculation. 

"Well,  anyway,  you  know  where  I  stand!"  she  said. 

"And  you  know  where  I  do,"  he  answered,  after  a 
pause.  "I  can  see  Carter  has  no  particular  enthusiasm 
for  me — I  suppose  that's  your  work." 

"I've  said  nothing  definite,"  she  answered,  in  a 
troubled  voice. 

"Then  I  shall!"  Royal  said,  with  sudden  feeling. 
"I'm  sick  of  this  shilly-shallying,  and  weighing  words! 
If  he  will  accept  me  as  I  am,  well  and  good — if  not,  I'm 
done!  But  he  has  a  high  opinion  of  you,  Harriet;  what 
you  say  really  counts!" 

"You  know  where  I  stand,"  she  could  only  repeat. 
They  had  reached  the  garden  now,  and  were  at  the  foot 
of  the  steps. 

"I  don't  quite  see  how  you  can  take  that  tone," 
Blondin  hinted.  "Do  you  expect  to  marry  the  boy?" 

Harriet  did  not  answer,  except  by  a  faint  shrug.  Her 
heart  was  sick  with  fright,  but  there  was  no  reason  why 
he  should  be  informed  that  she  had  definitely  broken 
with  Ward.  But  he  had  never  come  so  near  a  threat 
before. 

"Of  course  I  am  entirely  at  your  mercy,"  she  said, 
simply.  Blondin  watched  her  for  a  full  moment  of 
silence  before  he  said  suddenly: 


180  HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER 

"All  I  ask  you  to  do  is  assume,  for  the  time  being,  that 
you  and  I  met  as  strangers  a  few  weeks  ago!" 

"Oh,  Roy,"  the  girl  exclaimed,  "as  if  I  were  likely  to 
do  anything  else!" 

She  despised  herself  for  the  sense  of  relief  that  flooded 
her  heart. 

"Look  here  then,"  he  said,  after  a  moment  of  thought. 
"I'll  make  a  bargain  with  you.  If  you  will  consent  not 
to  make  any  allusion  to — well,  to  ten  years  ago,  I'll  do 
the  same.  I'll  give  you  my  solemn  promise  on  it.  Say 
what  you  please  about  me  now.  You're  under  no  bond 
to  protect  me.  I  can  hold  my  own.  But  the  past  is 
dead.  Neither  you  nor  I  will  speak  of  it  without  agree- 
ing to  do  so.  How  about  it?" 

She  hesitated,  the  black  lashes  dropped,  her  restless 
hands  twisting  and  torturing  her  handkerchief.  It  pro- 
tected her,  she  thought,  while  leaving  her  free  to  oppose 
him. 

"I'll  agree,"  she  said,  finally. 

"Promise?" 

"Oh,  I  promise!"  She  bit  her  lip,  and  frowned,  as  if 
she  would  add  something  more.  But  no  words  came, 
only  her  troubled  eyes  met  his  fully  and  splendidly 
for  a  second. 

Then  with  the  brief,  familiar  nod  which  Richard 
Carter  saw  from  his  upstairs  window,  she  turned,  and 
without  another  word  went  into  the  house. 

The  morning  dragged.  It  was  dry  and  hot,  with 
promise  of  a  storm  later.  The  men  piled  into  the  car, 
and  went  off  for  their  golf.  It  was  |ten  o'clock  before 
Nina  and  Amy  came  chattering  downstairs;  Royal 


HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER  181 

was  in  the  music  room  then,  evoking  a  tangle  of  dim 
chords  from  the  piano,  smoking  endless  cigarettes. 
Presently  Ward  and  his  friend  thundered  down  to  join 
the  girls  at  breakfast;  a  maid  circled  the  table  with 
toast  and  covered  dishes. 

Madame  Carter's  breakfast  had  been  sent  upstairs, 
and  Mrs.  Tabor  had  joined  her,  for  when  the  old  lady 
sent  a  message  to  Harriet,  the  two  women  were  together, 
in  elaborate  negligee,  and  a  litter  of  Sunday  papers 
was  scattered  about  the  beautiful  bedroom.  Upon 
Harriet's  entrance  Mrs.  Tabor  gracefully  rose  to  go, 
but  she  paused  for  a  pleasant  good-morning. 

Alone  with  her  determined  old  enemy,  Harriet  as- 
sumed her  usual  air  of  respectful  readiness.  Madame 
Carter  had  sent  for  her? 

"Yes,"  said  the  old  lady,  looking  aimlessly  about  her 
before  gathering  her  garments  together,  and  sinking 
into  a  chair.  "I  wanted  you  to  know  that  the  young 
people  propose  to  drive  to  Easthampton,  at  about  two 
o'clock — my  granddaughter  has  been  here,  teasing 
Granny  for  the  plan,  and  I  have  consented.  They 
will  dine  there  and  be  back  at  about — well,  after  dinner." 

"But  won't  that  tire  you?"  Harriet  asked. 

"I?  Oh,  I  shall  not  go.  Ward  will  chaperon  his 
sister,  and  Nina,  Amy.  Mr.  Blondin  will  see  that  they 
get  home  in  time.  It's  quite  all  right,  Miss  Field;  I  am 
entirely  satisfied.  They — 

"But,  Madame  Carter!"  Harriet  interrupted  her  as 
she  had  expected  to  be  interrupted.  "Surely  it  would 
be  better " 

"We  won't  discuss  it,  please,  Miss  Field!" 

Harriet's  cheeks  reddened;  she  was  silent. 


182  HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER 

"Your  devotion  to  my  son  and  his  family  is  extremely 
praiseworthy,"  said  Madame  Carter,  coldly.  "But, 
as  Mrs.  Tabor,  who  is  of  course  a  woman  of  the  world, 
and  comes  of  a  very  fine  family — she  was  a  Kingdon, 
the  Charleston  family — as  Mrs.  Tabor  was  saying, 
Richard  is  just  the  sort  of  chivalrous,  splendid  man  who 
is  perfectly  helpless  in  his  own  house!" 

Harriet  smiled,  with  a  touch  of  scorn. 

"When  Mr.  Carter  is  dissatisfied  with  me,  Madame 
Carter,  I  shall  of  course  consider  myself — dismissed. 
But  until  that  time  I  am  very  glad  to  make  his  own 
house  comfortable  for  him." 

The  hard,  angry  colour  of  old  age  had  been  rising 
in  Madame  Carter's  face  during  this  speech,  and  now 
she  was  quite  obviously  enraged. 

"You  are  hardly  in  a  position  to  dictate  to  me  in  this 
matter!"  she  said,  shaking.  Harriet  watched  her 
gravely  as  she  rose  from  her  chair,  made  a  few  restless 
turns  about  the  room,  opened  and  shut  bureau  drawers, 
dropped  and  plucked  up  handkerchiefs  and  newspapers. 
In  a  dead  silence  the  girl  asked : 

"Was  that  all?" 

A  sort  of  sniff  was  the  answer,  and,  leaving  the  room, 
Harriet  saw  the  door  of  Mrs.  Tabor's  room,  adjoining, 
open  cautiously.  The  ally  was  creeping  back  for  news 
of  the  fray,  thought  the  girl,  with  a  little  grin  at  the 
thought  of  the  two  women's  discomfiture.  But  she 
sighed  again  as  she  entered  her  own  suite  to  find  Nina 
and  Amy  complacently  dressing  themselves  for  the 
afternoon's  run. 

"We're  going  to  Easthampton,  Miss  Harriet;  Granny 
said  it  was  all  right,"  Nina  said,  in  great  spirits.  "I 


HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER  183 

know  you  won't  feel  hurt,  because  the  car  simply  won't 
accommodate  more  than  five,  and  it's  too  long  a  run  to 
sit  on  laps " 

"But,  dearie  child,"  Harriet  said,  in  her  friendliest 
manner,  "I  don't  believe  you  had  better  do  that! 
You're  all  pretty  young,  in  case  anything  occurred— 

A  mutinous  line  marked  Nina's  babyish  mouth. 
She  would  not  yield  to  any  nursery  control  before  Amy! 

"Granny  said  it  was  all  right,  Miss  Harriet,  so  just 
don't  bother  your  head  about  us!"  she  said,  airily. 

"Yes,  I  know,  dear.  But  Granny's  ideas  are  old- 
fashioned ' 

"Old-fashioned  people  are  apt  to  be  even  more  rigid 
than  we  are,  aren't  they  ? "  Amy  submitted  lightly  and 
sweetly. 

Harriet,  a  trifle  nonplussed  by  this  determined  resist- 
ance, stood  looking  from  one  to  the  other,  pondering. 

"Anyway,  I'm  going!"  Nina  muttered,  lacing  high 
white  buckskin  shoes,  with  some  shortening  of  breath. 
"Granny  says  a  girl's  brother " 

Harriet  paid  no  further  attention  to  them,  and  the 
two  developed  a  splendid  case  for  themselves.  But 
she  went  down  to  find  Ward,  and  took  him  partially 
into  her  confidence.  Would  he  please  be  a  darling, 
and  see  that  there  was  no  nonsense?  She  could  not 
well  cross  his  grandmother  and  Nina  without  his  father 
to  back  her.  She  disliked  to  call  his  father  at  the  club 
and  make  too  much  of  the  whole  thing.  Would  he 
promise  her  that  they  would  be  home  by  ten  o'clock, 
at  latest  ? 

Somewhat  comforted  by  Ward's  affectionate  loyalty, 
Harriet  went  up  to  dress  for  the  one  o'clock  luncheon, 


184  HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER  » 

and  while  she  was  dressing  a  new  idea  came  to  her.  For 
a  few  minutes  she  shook  her  head,  stood  thinking,  with 
a  face  of  distaste. 

"I  could  do  that!"  she  said,  aloud.  And  she  picked 
up  the  gingham  dress  that  she  had  laid  on  the  bed. 

But  there  was  a  prettier  dress  in  Harriet's  wardrobe, 
a  gift  from  Isabelle,  that  she  had  never  worn.  It  was 
a  flowered  silk  mull,  of  a  soft  deep  blue  that  was  ex- 
actly the  colour  of  Harriet's  eyes,  and  at  the  throat  and 
wrists  it  had  frills  of  transparent  lace.  The  soft  ruffles 
that  made  the  skirt  were  cunningly  edged  with  black, 
and  there  was  a  great  open  pink  rose  at  the  belt. 

Harriet  put  on  this  enchanting  garment,  vand  as  she 
did  so  she  felt  some  half-forgotten  power  rise  strong 
within  her.  There  was  one  trump  in  her  hand  that  she 
had  never  thought  to  play  in  a  game  with  Nina  Carter, 
but  she  was  glad  to  find  it  now. 

She  went  downstairs,  and  found  Royal  Blondin 
lounging  in  the  billiard  room,  and  idly  knocking  balls 
about.  The  second  thing  he  said  to  her  was  of  the 
gown,  the  third  of  her  eyes.  Harriet  stood  beside 
him,  raising  the  eyes  in  question,  and  smiling.  When 
she  turned  and  went  slowly  away,  Blondin  went  after 
her. 

At  half-past  two  o'clock  the  car  was  at  the  side  door, 
and  Nina  and  Amy  came  downstairs  with  their  wraps, 
and  Saunders  and  Ward  ran  about  laughing  and  con- 
fusing things.  Blondin  watched  the  performance  lazily 
from  a  basket  chair  on  the  porch,  but  when  Nina  called 
him  a  half-laughing,  half-daring,  "We're  ready,  Mr. 
Blondin!"  he  sauntered  down  to  the  car  with  his  pleas- 
antest  expression,  but  with  the  regretful  statement  that 


HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER  185 

4 

he  was  not  going:  a  vicious  headache  had  developed 
since  luncheon. 

Whatever  the  effect  on  Amy  and  the  young  men,  to 
Nina  this  was  a  staggering  blow.  Harriet  felt  sorry 
for  her  as  she  saw  the  girl  try  to  meet  it  gallantly;  she 
knew  that  the  heart  died  from  Nina's  day  there  and 
then.  Nina  had  triumphed  all  through  luncheon,  had 
laughed  and  chattered,  had  made  Ward  telephone  a 
dinner  reservation  for  five,  and  had  assumed  a  hundred 
coquettish  airs.  Now  all  this  crumpled,  faded  away, 
and  Harriet  knew,  as  she  stood  beside  the  car  looking 
down  at  the  folded  light  rug  on  her  arm,  that  she  was 
ready  to  cry. 

"No,  you'll  have  a  far  nicer  time  without  me,"  said 
Royal,  throwing  away  his  cigarette,  and  resting  one  arm 
on  the  car.  "I  wouldn't  interfere,  because  I  knew 
you'd  all  give  it  up!  You  just  all  have  a  perfectly 
wonderful  time,  and  I'll  be  down  next  week-end  and  hear 
about  it!" 

Nina  stood  irresolute;  too  choked  with  sudden  disap- 
pointment to  risk  her  voice.  Itwas  all  hateful,  madden- 
ing, horrible!  Those  two  boys  and  Amy — ah,  there 
would  be  no  "fun"  now!  She  loathed  Amy,  getting 
in  so  briskly,  and  saying,  "Come  on,  Nina!"  She 
hated  Ward,  she  wished  that  they  were  all  dead,  and 
herself,  too.  It  was  impossible  that  she  should  be 
carried  farther  and  farther  away  from  him — after  last 
night  and  to-day! 

The  storm  came  at  Good  Ground,  and  they  all  had 
to  scramble  with  curtains,  "smelly"  curtains,  Nina 
called  them.  And  the  dinner  was  eaten  in  warm, 
sticky  half-darkness  on  a  hotel  porch,  with  horrible 


186  HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER 


music  making  a  horrible  racket,  according  to  the  same 
authority.  Saunders  and  Amy  held  hands  all  the  way 
home,  too,  and  Nina  thought  it  was  disgusting;  every- 
one was  too  tired  to  talk,  they  bounced  along  silently 
and  crossly. 

And  upon  getting  home,  Miss  Harriet  came  out  of  the 
shadows  on  the  porch,  looking  perfectly  exquisite  in 
her  new  gown,  sweetly  interested  and  cheerful.  She 
said  that  she  was  so  sorry  the  dinner  was  poor,  they  had 
had  such  a  nice  dinner  at  home,  and  that  she  had  had  a 
talk  with  their  father,  and  they  were  to  go  back  to 
Crownlands  next  week.  Nina  did  not  see  Blondin;  she 
heard  his  voice  from  the  smoking  room,  but  her  arrival 
caused  no  cessation  of  the  men's  laughter  and  voices 
in  there,  and  the  only  news  she  had  from  him  that  night 
was  from  her  grandmother,  who  was  in  a  bad  temper, 
and  reported  that  he  and  Miss  Field  had  been  walking 
half  the  afternoon.  Nina,  for  the  first  time  in  her  life, 
cried  herself  to  sleep. 

"Never  mind,  my  dear,"  said  the  old  lady  with  ter- 
rible insight,  "if  I  ask  my  son  to  choose  between  me  and 
any  other  woman,  I  have  no  doubt  of  the  outcome!" 

Harriet  had  assuredly  triumphed,  but  it  was  on  terms 
that  for  more  than  one  reason  did  not  entirely  please 
her.  To  affect  a  confidential  intimacy  with  Royal 
Blondin  was  utterly  distasteful,  and  to  have  poor  little 
Nina  sulky  and  silent  far  from  pleasant.  But  most  dis- 
quieting of  all  was  the  immediate  result  of  old  Madame 
Carter's  meddling. 

For  Richard,  finding  the  pretty  secretary  prettier 
than  ever  in  her  blue  gown,  and  warmed  by  a  relaxed 
day  at  the  club  and  a  mood  of  friendliness,  had  specifi- 


HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER  187 

oally  instructed  her  that  she  was  to  dine  with  the  family 
on  all  occasions,  and  to  dress  as  the  others  did,  and  to 
regard  herself  as  "a  member  of  the  family. "  And  this, 
Harriet  was  quick  to  realize,  really  did  place  her  in  a 
peculiar  position,  made  difficult  by  Richard's  kindly 
championing  no  less  than  his  mother's  hostility,  by 
the  adoring  sympathy  of  the  servants,  and  the  affection- 
ate familiarities  of  the  Carter  children.  Richard's 
friends  took  their  cue  from  him,  as  was  natural,  and  in 
the  first  early  winter  dinner  parties  at  Crownlands 
Harriet  could  not  but  sparkle  and  lead;  she  had  reached 
her  own  level  at  last. 

Perhaps  the  master  of  the  house  but  dimly  saw  the 
truth  of  this,  but  he  did  see  a  most  charming  and  pretty 
woman  at  the  head  of  his  establishment,  his  daughter  and 
son  protected,  his  affairs  capably  managed,  and  such 
hospitality  and  entertainment  as  he  felt  suitable  well 
handled.  She  and  Nina  shared  Isabelle's  old  rooms, 
and  Harriet  balanced  Nina's  first  evening  gowns  with 
discreet  but  dignified  black. 

A  sense  of  well-being  and  happiness  began  to  envelop 
Richard  Carter  for  the  first  time  in  many  years.  He 
was  conscious  of  a  desire  to  express  his  appreciation 
to  Miss  Field.  It  was  natural  that  this  should  take  the 
form  of  money;  a  little  present,  in  the  form  of  a  check. 
She  had  a  sister  who  was  not  rich;  she  would  like  to  go 
home  with  laden  hands.  But  the  question  was,  how 
much? 

He  was  musing  over  this  very  point  and  other  matters 
of  deeper  moment  one  morning  when  Harriet  herself 
came  in.  She  returned  his  smile  with  her  usual  bright 
nod,  but  he  thought  she  looked  pale  and  troubled. 


188  HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER 

"Mr.  Carter,"  she  said,  bravely  going  to  the  point, 
"do  you  think  Nina  is  able,  with  your  mother's  help, 
to  manage  your  house?" 

Richard  looked  at  her  silently  for  perhaps  two  min- 
utes. Then  he  said,  quietly: 

"Mr.  Blondin,  eh?" 

The  girl  looked  bewildered. 

"My  mother  has  given  me  a  hint,  indeed  I've  seen, 
that  he  would  want  to  take  you  away  from  us!"  Richard 
said. 

Harriet,  without  any  show  of  emotion,  looked  down, 
and  was  silent  in  her  turn.  But  it  was  not,  he  saw  with 
surprise,  the  silence  of  confusion.  On  the  contrary,  she 
seemed  simply  a  little  thoughtful  and  puzzled. 

"Mr.  Carter,"  she  said,  presently,  "I  have  reason  to 
believe  that  Mr.  Blondin  would  be  a  very  bad  husband 
for  Nina.  I  had  no  scruple  in — in  diverting  his  thoughts. 
But  if  he  was  the  only  man  in  the  world  " — and  to  his 
surprise,  she  slowly  got  to  her  feet,  and  spoke  as  if  to 
herself,  her  eyes  fixed  far  away — "I  would  sooner  kill 
him  than  marry  him!"  she  said. 

Richard  sat  genuinely  dumfounded.  Her  beauty, 
her  assurance,  and  the  cleverness  with  which  she  had 
managed  that  Blondin's  allegiance  should  be  tempo- 
rarily shifted  from  his  own  daughter,  held  him  mute. 
It  was  with  the  charm  of  watching  perfect  acting  that  he 
followed  this  extremely  amusing  and  unexpected  woman. 

"I  confess  that  I  am  glad  to  hear  it!"  he  said,  drily. 

"Nina  is  very  angry  at  me,"  Harriet  said.  "Well,  I 
have  to  stand  that!" 

And  she  gave  Nina's  father  a  whimsical  and  friendly 
look. 


HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER  189 

"But  what  then?"  Richard  asked.  Harriet  immedi- 
ately became  serious  again. 

"But  this,"  she  said,  "you  know  your  mother  is 
right.  You're  all  too  kind  to  me;  I  am  really  a  member 
of  the  family.  I  love  it.  I  love  to  dress  for  dinner,  and 
order  the  car,  and  charge  things  to  your  accounts! 
But — it's  not  possible.  You  see  that?" 

Richard  was  quietly  looking  down.  Now  he  made 
several  parallel  lines  with  a  pencil  before  he  looked  up. 

"No.     I  don't  see  that!" 

"Mary — Mrs.  Putnam,  for  instance,  who  is  very  fond 
of  me,  and  Mrs.  Jay.  They  want  to  ask  me  to  dinner — 
to  Christmas  parties — and  they're  not  quite  comfort- 
able about  it.  I  am  not  a  member  of  your  family  even 
though  you  are  kind  enough  to  treat  me  as  one.  I  am 
a  paid  employee,  and  Madame  Carter  naturally  resents 
their  treating  me  as  anything  else.  But  most  of  all," 
said  Harriet,  seeing  that  she  was  not  making  headway, 
"it's  myself.  Nina,  and  your  mother,  and  Mrs.  Tabor 
—it's  just  a  hint  here  and  there — nothing  at  all!  But 
it  undermines  my  position — even  with  Bottomley.  I 
dress,  I  entertain  your  friends,  I  join  you  in  town;  it 
makes  talk.  And  I  can't — I  can't— 

She  stood  up,  and  turned  her  back  on  him  proudly, 
and  he  knew  that  she  was  crying. 

"Just  a  minute,"  Richard  said,  finding  himself  more 
shaken  than  he  would  have  believed.  "It  is — you're 
sure  it  isn't  Blondin?" 

"  Royal  Blondin ! "  There  was  in  her  tone  a  pleasant, 
childish  scorn  and  indignation  that  again  he  thought 
amusing.  She  sat  down  facing  him  again,  and  quite 
openly  dried  her  eyes,  and  smiled.  "No,  it's  more 


190  HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER 

serious,"  Harriet  said.  "It  means  constant  irritation 
for  your  mother.  It  means  that  she  is  always  in  a 
state  of  exasperation.  I  think — I  don't  know,  but  I 
have  reason  to  think — that  she  made  it  a  choice,  for 
Mary  Putnam,  between  us!" 

"She  has  no  right  to  do  that,"  said  Richard,  soberly. 

"I'm  not — you  know  that! — criticizing,"  Harriet  said. 
The  man  sighed,  and  tossed  a  few  papers  on  his  desk. 

"Sometimes  I  have  hoped,"  he  began,  on  a  fresh 
tack,  "that  you  and  the  boy  might  fancy  each  other. 
I'm  not  satisfied  with  Ward.  He  needs  an  anchor. 
That  would  be  a  solution  for  us  all!"  It  was  a  random 
shot,  but  to  his  surprise  she  flushed  brightly. 

"Ward  knows  that  there  is  no  chance  of  that,"  she 
said,  quickly,  "dearly  as  I  love  him!' 

Richard's  eyes  widened  with  whimsical  amusement 
again. 

"So  you've  refused  Ward,  have  you?" 

"Long  ago,"  she  answered,  simply.  The  man  laughed; 
but  a  moment  later  his  face  grew  dark  and  troubled 
again  as  he  said: 

"I  hardly  know  what  to  do!  The  girl  is  the  first 
consideration,  of  course,  and  she  needs  you.  I  feel  that 
she  is  not  only  safe,  but  happy,  when  you  are  here.  My 
mother  needs  you,  too;  she  would  pay,  like  the  rest  of  us, 
for  worrying  you  out  of  the  house.  She  couldn't  man- 
age it — bringing  Nina  into  town,  ordering  her  clothes, 
entertaining  the  boy's  friends,  answering  letters — I 
know  what  it  is!  I've  unfortunately  reached  a  place 
where  I've  got  to  feel  free.  You've  heard  us  all  talk 
of  this  new  asbestos  merger — my  dear  girl,  that  will 
keep  me  going  like  a  slave  for  months,  perhaps  years! 


HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER  191 

I  won't  know  when  I  am  to  be  home,  or  what  I  shall 
have  to  cancel.  I  wish  I  could  convince  you  that  a 
woman  of  seventy-five  and  a  girl  of  seventeen  are  not 
exactly  a  jury— 

"This  is  the  jury!"  Harriet  said,  touching  her  own 
breast  lightly.  He  looked  at  her  sombrely. 

"I  suppose  so!  I  suppose  I  can't  convince  you  how 
badly  we  need  you.  My  mother — well,  she  has  always 
taken  life  that  way;  she  can't  change  now.  I  shall  have 
Ida  Tabor  as  a  fixture  here,  I  suppose,  Nina  running 
wild,  Ward  never  home!  You — you  give  me  exactly 
what  I  want  here!  Good  dinners,  fires,  hospitality, 
a  good  report  from  Nina  and  Ward;  I  can  bring  men 
home,  I  can—  He  mused,  with  a  smile  touching  his 

fine,  tired  face.  "In  short,  I  wish  there  was  some  for- 
tunate young  man  somewhere  to  make  you  Mrs.  Smith 
or  Jones,  Miss  Field,''  and  let  you  come  back  to  the 
Carters  immediately  again!" 

Harriet  laughed,  sighed  sharply  immediately  upon 
the  laugh. 

"Unfortunately,  there  isn't  such  a  man,"  she  said. 
And  she  added,  "Even  a  widow,  sometimes,  is  vulner- 
able!" 

Richard  smiled,  but  some  sudden  thought  made  the 
smile  but  an  absent  one,  and  he  sat  quite  obviously 
plunged  in  meditation  for  a  long  minute.  The  clock 
and  the  fire  ticked  sleepily,  and  outside  the  high 
windows  the  first  tentative  flutter  of  snow  was  melting 
on  bare  boughs  and  brick  walls. 

"Here's  another  suggestion,  Miss  Field,"  he  said,  sud- 
denly, looking  up.  "I  don't  know  how  this  will  strike 
you;  it  has  occurred  to  me  before.  Gardiner  hinted  it 


192  HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER 


I  thought  he  did,  and  the  more  I  think  of  it,  the 
more  possible  it  seems.  You  are  a  business  woman, 
and  I  am  a  business  man.  You  know  exactly  what  I 
am,  exactly  what  occurred  in  my  married  life,  after 
twenty-two  years.  That — that  sort  of  thing  is  over, 
of  course.  But  there  is  that  way  of  settling  it,  if  you 
care  to  consider  it " 

He  paused,  with  a  questioning  look  of  encourage- 
ment, embarrassment,  and  affectionate  interest.  Harriet 
had  grown  pale,  and  had  fixed  her  eyes  upon  his  as  if 
under  a  spell. 

"You  mean —  Her  voice  failed  her. 

"I  mean  marriage.  I  mean  that  you  and  I  shall 
quietly  get  married  in  a  few  weeks,  when  I  am  free," 
he  answered.  "I  have  just  indicated  to  you  what  it 
would  mean  to  me.  I  hope,"  he  added,  watching  her 
closely,  as  she  sat  stunned  and  silent,  "I  hope  that  it 
would  also  have  its  advantages  to  you.  Your  position 
then  would  be  unquestionable,  my  mother — Nina — 
the  world,  would  have  nothing  to  say.  I  think  you 
know  how  thoroughly  we  all  like  you,  and  that  my  share 
of  our — our  business  partnership  would  be  to  make  you 
as  happy  as  was  in  my  power.  Your  influence  on  Ward 
is  the  one  thing  that  may  save  the  boy.  Of  Nina  we've 
already  spoken.  My  mother — I  know  her! — would 
immediately  become  the  champion  of  her  son's  wife. 
There  would  be  a  three  days'  buzzing — that  would 
end  it!" 

The  swift  uprushing  of  joy  in  Harriet's  heart  was  ac- 
companied with  the  first  agonies  of  renunciation,  was 
perhaps  all  the  more  poignantly  sweet  because  of  them. 
She  had  not  come  to  this  hour  without  knowing  what  he 


HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER  193* 

meant  to  her,  this  quiet  man  with  the  splendid  mouth 
and  the  keen  gray  eyes,  and  she  trembled  now  with  an 
exquisite  emotion  that  seemed  to  drown  out  all  the  past 
and  all  the  future — everything  except  that  she  loved 
him,  and  he  needed  her!  But  when  she  spoke  it  was  as 
coolly  as  he: 

"Mr.  Carter — what  of  your  wife?" 

His  eyes  met  hers  wearily. 

"Divorce  proceedings  were  instituted  immediately 
it  was  definitely  established  she  had  gone  with  young 
Pope.  The  decree  will  be  absolute." 

"But  that  will  not — cannot  alter  the  situation " 

Harriet  faltered. 

"You  mean —  '  the  man  hesitated  '  —you  mean 
you — that  you  regard  me  as  married  still?" 

Harriet,  mute  with  emotions  absolutely  overpowering, 
nodded  without  speaking. 

"Will  you — will  you  let  me  think  about  it?"  she  fal- 
tered. A  sudden  brightness  came  into  his  face.  "You 
know  how  I  was  brought  up  to  think  of  divorce,"  she 
went  on,  pleadingly.  "I've  made  plenty  of  mistakes 
in  my  life,  but  I've  never  deliberately  done  what  I  felt 
was  wrong." 

"And  this  would  be?"  Richard  asked,  slowly. 

"Well — I  haven't  thought  about  it!"  she  answered, 
slowly.  "My  people — my  sister  and  her  husband- 
would  say  so!  I — I  would  have  said  so  of  some  other 
woman!" 

"This  would  not  be  an  ordinary  marriage;  you  would 
be  entirely  your  own  mistress,"  Richard  said,  with  quiet 
significance.  "  It  would  be  a  marriage  only  in  the  eyes 
of  the  world.  You — have  a  higher  tribunal!" 


194  HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER 

"My  own,  you  mean?"  she  asked,  thoughtfully. 

"Your  own.  You  would  know  exactly  why  this  mar- 
riage was  not  in  violation  of  any  code  of  yours!  The 
world  might  not  acquit  you,  but  you  would  know  in 
your  own  heart." 

"I  see,"  she  said.  "I — I  must  have  time  to  think 
about  it!" 

"As  long  as  you  like!"  She  had  risen,  and  now  he 
rose,  too,  and  "went  with  her  to  the  library  door,  and 
opened  it  for  her.  "When  you  decide,  come  and  tell 
me,"  he  said,  bowing. 

She  turned  to  give  him  a  parting  smile,  with  a  desper- 
ate wish  to  tell  him  half  the  honour  and  joy  she  would 
feel  in  taking  his  name,  in  sharing  his  responsibilities, 
but  the  pleasantly  impersonal  nod  he  gave  her  chilled 
the  words  unspoken.  Harriet  fled  to  her  room,  and  to 
the  porch  beyond  it,  and  flinging  herself  into  a  basket 
chair,  covered  her  face  with  her  two  hands,  and  for  half 
an  hour  rocked  to  and  fro  audibly  gasping,  half-laughing, 
half-crying,  almost  beside  herself  with  amazement  and 
excitement. 

To  be  Mrs.  Richard  Carter — to  be  Mrs.  Richard 
Carter — to  be  mistress  of  Crownlands,  to  command 
the  cars  and  the  maids,  to  enter  the  opera  box  and  the 
big  shops — recognized,  envied,  triumphant — ah,  it 
was  a  prospect  brilliant  enough  to  dazzle  a  far  more 
fortunate  woman  than  Harriet  Field!  To  sign  "Harriet 
Carter,"  to  enter  his  office  with  assurance,  to  say  at  the 
telephone,  "Mrs.  Carter,  if  you  please !" 

"My  chance,"  whispered  Harriet,  pressing  her  cold 
finger  tips  to  her  hot  cheeks  again,  "my  chance  at 
last — and  I  can't  take  it!  No,  I  can't  take  it — I  don't 


HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER  195 

care  what  his  world  does  or  thinks — my  world  doesn't 
permit  it!  My  father  would  never  have  spoken  to  me 
again — Linda  wouldn't!  No — I  can't.  Not  a  divorced 
man,  not  a  man  with  a  living  wife!  I've  been  a  fool — 
I've  been  wrong,  plenty  of  times,  but  I've  never  com- 
mitted myself  to  folly  and  wrong!" 

She  stared  blindly  ahead  of  her.  After  awhile  she 
spoke  again,  half-aloud: 

"Oh,  but  why  does  it  have  to  be  this  way!  If  I  could 
go  to  him,  tell  him  what  he  means  to  me,  if  we  were 
poor — if  we  could  take  a  little  place  next  to  Linda— 
never  see  Nina  or  his  mother  or  Ward  or  Roy  again — 
Oh,  what  Heaven!  How  I  should  love  it,  planning  for 
things  together,  as  Linda  and  Fred  did,  having  him 
come  home  to  me  every  night! 

"But  it  isn't  that  way,"  Harriet  suddenly  recalled 
herself  sensibly,  "and  it  is  folly  even  to  think  about  it! 
He  is  a  rich  man,  and  a  married  man,  and  that  ends  it. 
That  ends  it." 

A  great  desolation  swept  her  spirit.  She  fell  from 
bitter  musing  to  weakening.  The  law  permitted  it, 
after  all.  Plenty  of  good  women  had  shown  her  the 
way.  The  family  needed  her;  she  might  do  good  here. 
And  above  all,  she  loved  him.  Again  the  dream  tri- 
umphed, and  she  was  Mrs.  Carter,  young,  beautiful, 
and  radiant,  taking  her  place  beside  him.  How  she 
would  watch  him,  how  she  would  guard  him,  what  a  life 
she  would  build  for  him! 

"But  no,  I  mustn't  think  of  that,"  Harriet  said, 
sternly.  "It  would  be  even  different  if  he  loved  me. 
But  he  made  that  very  clear!  He  made  that  extremely 
clear!  And  the  fact  is  this:  that  I  marry  a  divorced 


196  HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER 

man  the  week  he  is  free,  a  man  who  does  not  love  me, 
but  who  can  give  me  an  establishment!  No — no — 
no — everything  I've  tried  for  all  my  life  counts  for 
very  little  if  I  can  do  that!" 

She  heard  a  stirring  in  the  bedroom. 

"What  time  is  it,  Rosa?"  she  called,  suddenly  aware 
of  weakness  and  fatigue. 

"My  goodness,  how  you  frightened  me,  Miss  Field! 
It's  just  noon." 

"  Do  you  happen  to  know  if  Mr.  Carter  is  still  down- 
stairs?" 

"Yes'm,  he  is;  he's  expecting  Mr.  Fox  to  come!" 

Harriet  smoothed  her  tumbled  hair,  and  went  slowly 
downstairs. 

"But  I  love  him!"  she  said,  suddenly  standing  still 
on  the  landing,  to  look  out  at  the  softly  falling  snow 
with  brimming  eyes.  "I  love  him  with  all  my  soul!" 

A  moment  later  she  knocked  at  the  library  door, 
opened  it  in  answer  to  his  call,  and  went  in,  closing  it 
behind  her. 


CHAPTER  XIV 

THERE  was  trouble  at  Linda's  house;  trouble  so  ter- 
rible that  Harriet's  unexpected  arrival  caused  no  com- 
ment, caused  no  more  than  a  weary  flicker  of  Linda's 
heavy  eyes.  Pip,  the  adored  first-born  son,  lay  dan- 
gerously ill,  and  the  whole  household  moved  on  tip- 
toe, heartsick  with  dread.  Fred,  a  white  and  unshaven 
Fred,  was  home  in  the  cold  gray  midday;  the  telephone 
was  muted,  the  hall  door  stood  ajar,  the  maid  was  red- 
eyed.  Harriet,  entering  with  a  cheerful  call  hushed  sud- 
denly on  her  lips,  kissed  her  brother-in-law  while  her 
eyes  anxiously  questioned  him,  and  put  a  heartening 
arm  about  Josephine,  who  came  out  in  a  kitchen  apron, 
and  wept  pitifully  on  her  aunt's  shoulder. 

It  was  diphtheria,  very  bad,  Fred  stated  lifelessly. 
Linda  hardly  left  the  room;  they  were  afraid  for  her, 
too,  "if  anything  happened."  "  If  anything  happened ! " 
Harriet  thought  she  had  heard  the  phrase  a  hundred 
times  before  the  dreadful  night  came.  The  sympathetic 
neighbours  whispered  it,  the  doctor  said  it  gravely,  the 
nurse  muttered  it  in  the  kitchen,  and  the  little  sisters, 
clinging  together,  faltered  it  with  trembling  lips.  The 
invalid  was  isolated  on  the  upper  floor;  Harriet  only 
waited  to  get  into  a  thin  gown  before  noiselessly  mount- 
ing to  the  sick  room.  Linda,  sitting  beside  the  haggard 
little  feverish  boy,  looked  at  her  sister  apathetically, 
the  nurse  was  glad  to  whisper  directions  and  slip  away. 

197 


198  HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER 

A  bitter  winter  afternoon  was  waning,  but  the  air  in 
Pip's  room  was  warm,  and  there  was  the  order  and  si- 
lence of  recognized  crisis.  The  swollen  little  mouth 
moved,  the  heavy  eyes;  Linda  bent  above  the  child. 

"What  is  it,  my  darling?     Mother  is  right  here 

There  was  a  new  note  in  the  passionate,  tender  voice. 
Linda  was  all  alive  for  the  few  seconds  he  needed  her, 
then  she  sank  into  her  voiceless  apathy  again,  and  the 
short  winter  afternoon  wore  away,  and  there  was  no 
change.  The  doctor  came,  the  nurse  returned,  Fred 
appeared  at  the  door.  After  awhile  it  was  dark,  and  a 
shaded  lamp  was  lighted,  and  Harriet  went  downstairs, 
to  the  world  of  subdued  voices,  and  smothered  sobs,  and 
fearful  glances.  And  always  horror  brooded  over  the 
little  house,  and  over  the  simple,  normal  family  living 
that  had  been  so  taken  for  granted  a  few  days  before. 

Harriet  talked  to  the  little  girls,  and  while  they  were 
going  to  bed  amused  Nammy,  whose  lighter  attack 
of  the  disease,  a  week  ago,  had  begun  the  siege.  Fred, 
tenderly  attempting  to  reassure  his  daughters,  buttoned 
his  small  son  into  woollen  sleeping-wear,  brought  the 
inevitable  drink,  heard  the  garbled  prayers,  glancing 
now  and  then  toward  the  door,  as  if  fearing  a  summons, 
and  looking,  Harriet  thought,  stooped  and  gray  and 
suddenly  old. 

She  took  Linda's  place  for  an  hour,  but  before  it  was 
up  the  mother  came  back,  and  they  kept  their  vigil 
together.  Fred  answered  the  strange,  untimely  ringing 
of  the  door-bell,  brought  in  packages,  conferred  in  the 
halls  with  the  doctors.  Midnight  came,  two  o'clock, 
four  o'clock. 

Suddenly  there  was  panic.     Harriet,  by  chance  in 


HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER  199 

the  hall,  saw  Linda  and  Fred  and  the  doctors  together, 
heard  Linda's  quick,  anguished  "Yes!"  and  Fred's 
hoarse  "Anything!"  Her  heart  pounded;  the  nurse 
ran  upstairs.  Harriet  fell  upon  her  knees  with  a  sob- 
bing whisper,  "No — no — no!"  and  Linda  clung  to  her 
husband  with  a  cry  torn,  from  the  deeps  of  her  heart, 
"Oh,  Pip — my  own  boy!" 

They  were  all  needed;  they  were  back  in  the  sick 
room,  there  was  hurry,  quick  whispers,  breathless  re- 
plies. No  time  to  think  now,  though  Harriet  cast  more 
than  one  agonized  glance  at  Linda's  drawn  face,  and 
nodded  more  than  once  to  Fred  that  she  should  not  be 
here.  The  child  protested  with  a  choked  cry;  and 
Linda's  voice,  that  new,  deep,  terrible  voice,  answered 
him,  "Never  mind,  my  dearest — just  a  minute,  that's 
all!  Mother  is  taking  care  of  you!"  And  Harriet 
heard  her  sister  say,  in  a  breath  almost  inaudible: 
"Thy  will  be  done — Thy  will  be  done!" 

Dawn  came  slowly  and  reluctantly  at  seven;  the 
village  lay  bleak  and  closed  under  a  sky  of  unbroken 
gray.  Here  and  there  smoke  streamed  upward  from  a 
chimney,  or  a  window-pane  showed  an  oblong  of  pale 
light.  The  dirty  snow,  frozen  in  thick  lumps  about 
the  yard,  was  trodden  by  a  furtive  black  cat,  that 
mounted  a  fence  and  meowed  desolately. 

Harriet  saw  this  from  Linda's  kitchen,  when  she  put 
out  the  light  that  was  becoming  unnecessary.  But  her 
heart  was  singing  for  joy,  and  the  house  was  brimful  of 
an  inner  light  and  cheer  that  no  winter  bleakness  could 
touch.  The  girl  had  been  crying  until  she  was  almost 
blind,  but  it  was  a  crying  mixed  with  laughter  and 


200  HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER 

prayers  of  utter  thankfulness.  She  and  Fred  had  built 
up  a  roaring  fire,  had  given  the  nurse  a  royal  breakfast, 
had  had  their  own  coffee,  and  now  Harriet  was  waiting 
for  Linda,  in  that  mood  when  the  commonplaces  of  life 
take  on  an  exquisite  flavour,  and  just  to  be  free  to  eat 
and  sleep  and  live  is  luxury. 

She  met  Linda  at  the  door,  a  weary  Linda,  ghastly 
as  to  face,  grayer  as  to  straggling  hair,  but  with  such 
radiance  in  her  eyes  that  Harriet,  clasped  in  her  arms, 
began  to  cry  again. 

"  What  you  need  is  coffee ! "  she  faltered,  trying  to  laugh, 
as  Linda  sat  down  and  rested  her  head  in  her  hands. 

"Oh,  Harriet — if  I  can  ever  thank  God  enough!" 
Pip's  mother  said,  beginning  on  her  breakfast  with  one 

long  sigh.  "Oh,  my  dear !  He's  sleeping  like  a 

baby,  God  bless  him,  and  dear  old  Fred  is  sleeping,  too. 
Oh,  Harriet,  to  go  about  the  house,  as  I  just  have, 
covering  Nammy  and  the  girls,  and  feeling  that  we're 
all  going  to  be  together  again,  in  a  few  days — my  dear, 
I  don't  know  what  I've  done  to  be  so  blessed!  My 
boy,  who  has  never  given  any  one  one  moment's  care  or 
trouble  since  he  was  born — my  darling,  who  looked  up 
at  me  yesterday  with  his  beautiful  eyes — 

The  floodgates  were  loosed,  and  Linda  laughed  and 
cried,  while  she  enjoyed  her  breakfast  with  the  appetite 
of  a  normal  woman  released  from  cruel  strain,  whose 
whole  brood  lies  safely  sleeping  under  her  roof.  Nammy 's 
light  illness,  Pip's  wet  feet,  Linda's  unwillingness  to 
believe  that  it  was  anything  but  a  cold,  every  hour  of  the 
four  awful  days  of  danger,  she  reviewed  them  all.  And 
oh,  the  goodness  of  people,  the  solicitude  of  nurse  and 
doctor,  the  generosity  of  God ! 


HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER  201 

"Fred  has  been  a  miracle,"  said  Linda,  with  her  third 
cup  of  coffee,  "this 'will  cost  him  five  hundred  dollars, 
but  Harriet,  I'll  never  forget  the  way  his  voice  rang  out 
yesterday,  'I  don't  want  you  to  think  of  anything  but 
giving  me  back  my  boy!'  And  Harriet,  only  ten  days 
ago — it  seems  ten  years — I  felt  so  terribly,  I  acted  so 
terribly,  about  that  old  house  that  I've  been  wanting 
so  long!  They  sold  it  at  auction,  and  the  Paysons  got 
it  for  forty-three  hundred,  and  I  was  perfectly  sick  that 
Fred  wouldn't  bid!  But  now,"  said  Linda,  reverently, 
putting  her  arm  about  Josephine,  who  came  yawning 
into  the  kitchen,  in  her  blue  wrapper,  "now,  if  the 
Father  spares  me  my  girls  and  boys,  and  their  daddy,  I 
shall  never  ask  anything  happier  than  this!  Pip's 
better,  Jo,"  she  said  to  the  child,  who  was  kissing  her 
dreamily,  over  and  over,  "they  put  a  tube  in  his  throat 
last  night,  and  saved  him  for  us!  And  now  Mother 
must  get  a  bath,  and  change,  and  perhaps  some  sleep, 
and  then  go  back  and  stay  with  him  when  he  wakes  up!" 

It  was  the  afternoon  of  the  next  day  when  Harriet 
could  first  speak  of  her  own  affairs.  Pip,  recuperating 
with  the  amazing  speed  of  childhood,  was  asleep,  the 
other  children  walking,  the  nurse  gone.  She  could  lay 
the  whole  matter  before  Linda,  who  listened,  over  her 
mending,  nodded,  pursed  her  lips, or  raised  her  eyebrows. 

If  Linda  might  ever  have  been  worldly  minded,  she 
had  had  her  lesson  now,  and  the  viewpoint  she  gave 
Harriet  was  the  lofty  one  of  a  woman  who  has  faced  a 
supreme  sacrifice  without  shrinking  and  with  unwaver- 
ing faith. 

"You  did  right,  dear,"  she  assured  her  sister.     "You 


202  HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER 

could  not  stay  there,  under  the  circumstances.  What- 
ever their  code  is,  yours  is  different,  yours  has  not  been 
vitiated  by  luxury  and  idleness.  As  for  Mr.  Carter's 
talk  of  marriage,  that,  of  course,  is  simply  an  insult!" 

"No,  I  don't  think  it  was  that,"  Harriet  said,  feeling 
herself  revolt  inwardly  at  this  plain  speaking.  She 
listened  to  Linda;  she  knew  Linda  was  right,  but  she 
fought  an  almost  overwhelming  impulse  to  say  rudely, 
"Oh,  shut  up,  you  don't  know  what  you're  talking 
about." 

"I  don't  see  what  else  it  could  be,"  Linda  pursued, 
serenely.  "A  married  man — you  would  be  no  better 
than  his — well,  it's  not  a  nice  word — but  his  mistress!" 

"Not  at  all,"  Harriet  said,  trying  hard  to  hide  the 
irritation  that  rose  rebellious  within  her,  "he  is  legally 
free,  or  will  be  soon,  and  so  am  I!" 

"I  am  speaking  of  God's  law,  not  man's,"  Linda  said, 
gently  but  awfully,  and  Harriet  was  silent.  "Fred  says 
that  such  men  regard  these  matters  far  too  lightly," 
Linda  finished.  Fred's  name,  thus  introduced,  always 
had  the  effect  of  angering  Harriet.  She  was  suffering 
cruelly,  in  these  days,  and  moral  reflections  held  small 
consolation  for  her.  She  was  homesick  with  an  aching, 
gnawing  homesickness  that  arose  with  her  in  the  morn- 
ing, and  went  to  bed  with  her  at  night;  under  every- 
thing she  said  and  did  was  the  longing  for  Crownlands, 
for  just  one  more  word  or  look  from  Richard  Carter. 

She  had  shared  the  family  exaltation  over  Pip's  re- 
covery, and  had  thought  more  than  once  in  that  fearful 
night  of  his  illness  that  even  poverty,  gray  hairs,  and  the 
agony  of  parenthood,  shared  with  the  man  she  loved, 
would  have  been  ecstasy  to  her.  But  in  the  slow  days 


HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER  203 

and  weeks  that  followed,  her  spirit  became  exhausted 
with  the  struggle  that  never  ended  within  her.  Her 
bridges  were  burned  behind  her;  it  was  all  over.  What- 
ever her  emotions  had  been  in  leaving  Crownlands,  the 
Carters'  feelings  had  been  quite  obvious  and  simple. 
Old  Madame  Carter  had  wished  her  well;  Ward  had 
written  from  college  that  he  thought  it  was  "rotten," 
and  that  she  had  been  a  corker  to  get  Dad  to  raise  his 
allowance  for  him;  Nina  had  felt  her  own  wings  the 
stronger  for  the  change;  and  Richard  had  interrupted 
his  little  speech  of  regret  twice  to  answer  the  telephone, 
and  had  given  her  a  check  that  placed,  it  seemed  to 
Harriet,  the  obligation  permanently  with  her.  The 
utter  desolation  of  spirit  with  which  she  had  left  them 
was  evidently  unshared;  the  only  word  she  had  had 
from  that  old  life  had  been  from  Mary  Putnam,  and 
even  this  cordial  note  jarred  Harriet  with  its  frank 
revelation  of  the  change  in  her  position.  Mary  wrote: 


I  telephoned  Mr.  Carter  for  your  address,  and  he  reports  them 
all  well.  I  wanted  to  tell  you  that  I  am  giving  you  a  tremendous 
reputation  with  Kane  Bassett,  who  wants  someone  to  be  with  his 
little  girls.  You  know  their  mother  died,  and  the  grandmother 
lives  in  England.  It  would  be  a  beautiful  thing  for  you  if  I  could 
manage  it.  The  Putnams  are  all  full  of  happy  plans  for  a  month  at 
Nassau,  as  usual  running  away  from  January  in  New  York. 


Harriet  looked  at  the  two  words  that  stood  for  Richard 
Carter,  and  her  heart  beat  thickly. 

"I  can't  keep  this  up!"  she  told  herself,  playing 
games  with  little  convalescent  Pip,  walking  over  frozen 
roads  with  the  girls,  reading  under  the  evening  lamp. 


204  HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER 

"I  can't  keep  this  up!  Twenty-seven,  and  a  governess, 
and  in  love  with  a  married  man  who  does  not  know  I  am 
alive!"  summarized  Harriet,  bitterly.  "I  will  simply 
have  to  forget  it,  and  begin  again,  that's  all." 

And  she  meditated  upon  David,  the  excellent,  steady, 
devoted  David,  who  was  Fred's  brother  and  a  dentist  in 
Brooklyn,  and  who  gave  the  children  wonderful  holidays 
at  Asbury  Park.  It  would  make  Linda  and  Fred  very 
happy  to  have  her  change  toward  him:  they  were  a  little 
hurt  and  silent  about  David.  He  always  went  with 
them  to  the  crowded  beach  where  they  spent  July  and 
August,  had  had  a  car  this  year,  Linda  told  her  sister, 
and  had  been  "so  popular." 

Harriet  would  look  off  from  her  book;  David's  near- 
ness did  not  hold  the  thrill,  the  shaking,  the  happy 
suffusion  of  colour  that  the  most  casual  remembered 
glance  of  Richard  Carter  still  possessed.  No,  she  was 
richer  in  her  memory  of  Richard— 

"I  think  you're  a  wonder!  Don't  you  think  Fred  is  a 
wonder!"  Linda  would  say.  Fred's  precious  bank- 
account  had  been  almost  wiped  out  now;  he  made 
evening  calculations  with  a  sharp  pencil.  But  what 
was  a  bank-account  to  a  Pip  coming  downstairs  on 
Christmas  Day,  shaky  but  gay,  in  his  wrapper,  and  glad 
to  be  with  the  family  again  ? 

David  was  there,  Christmas  Day,  and  there  was  a 
fire  and  a  tree,  happy  children  everywhere,  rosy  little 
neighbours  coming  in  to  see  the  toys,  snowy  wet  gar- 
ments spread  on  the  porch  after  church.  David  took 
Harriet  walking  in  the  fresh  cold  air,  a  Harriet  so 
beautiful  in  her  furry  hat  and  long  coat,  with  her  bril- 
liant cheeks  and  her  blue  eyes  shining  under  a  blown 


HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER  205 

film  of  golden  hair,  that  Linda,  as  she  basted  the  turkey 
in  the  hot  kitchen,  couldn't  help  a  little  prayer  that  that 
would  all  come  out  "right." 

"But,  Davy  dear!"  Harriet  and  David  had  stopped 
short  in  the  exquisite,  silent  woods.  "There  is  a  feel- 
ing— a  something  that  makes  marriage  right !  And 
I  haven't  it,  that's  all!" 

"How  do  you  know  you  haven't?"  he  said,  smiling. 

"Well —  She  looked  up  bravely;  David  knew  her 

whole  story.  "I've  had  it!" 

"You  don't  mean  that  old  feeling  ten  years  ago? 
My  dear  girl,  that  wasn't  love!  That  was  just  a  little 
girl's  first  feeling.  But  look  at  Fred  and  Linda  after 
seventeen  years.  Why,  it's  sacred — it's  holy.  Harriet, 
if  once  you  said  you  would,  it  would  come.  Why,  that's 
the  very  proof  that  you're  as  fine — as  sensitive  as  you 
are — that  you  don't  feel  it  now.  But,  Harriet,"  his 
arm  was  about  her  now,  his  voice  close  to  her  ear, 
"don't  let  those  years  with  rich  people  spoil  you  for  the 
real  thing,  dear!  Think  of  our  hunting  for  an  apart- 
ment— Fred  and  I  haven't  Mother  to  care  for  now;  I've 
some  of  her  good  old  mahogany,  we  could  pick  out 
cretonnes  and  things — think  of  next  summer,  all  to- 
gether, down  at  the  beach!  Linda's  children — 

She  looked  up  at  him,  with  something  wistful  in  her 
blue  eyes. 

"Sounds  nice,  Davy!"  she  said,  childishly.  In- 
stantly she  saw  leap  to  his  face  the  look  he  had  hidden 
so  many  years;  she  heard  a  new  ring  in  his  voice. 

"Ah— you  darling!  You  will?  You'll  let  me  tell 
them ?" 

"No,  no,  no!"     Half-angry,  half-sorry,  she  put  away 


206  HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER 

his  embrace.  "I'll — Davy,  I  hate  to  spoil  your  Christ- 
mas Day — I  don't  know  what  to  say!  I'll  think  about 
it!" 

"And  tell  me — it's  noon  now "  He  took  out  his 

watch. 

"Oh,  David,  you  make  me  feel  as  if  I  were  catching  a 
train!" 

"And  so  you  are,  the  Matrimonial  Limited!"  He 
would  have  his  kiss,  but  only  caught  it  where  the  bright 
hair  mingled  with  the  dark  fur  of  her  cap.  Then  she 
turned  to  go  home,  forbidding  the  topic  imperatively, 
meeting  every  buoyant  hint  with  a  suddenly  serious 
warning.  Her  heart  was  lead  within  her. 

"I  suppose  there's  no  help  for  it,"  she  thought, 
in  a  panic.  "Linda'll  see — it'll  all  be  out  in  five 
seconds!" 

But  Linda  met  them  at  the  door,  full  of  an  announce- 
ment. 

"Harriet,  Mr.  Carter  is  here!" 

"Mr.— who?" 

Back  came  the  tide  with  a  great  rush,  nothing  else 
mattered.  For  a  moment  Harriet  was  turned  to  stone. 
Then  in  a  dream  of  radiance  and  delight  she  went  into 
the  little  parlour,  and  Richard  Carter  stood  up  to  greet 
her,  and  there  was  nobody  else  in  the  world.  Linda  had 
introduced  herself;  David  was  introduced.  Harriet 
glanced  about  helplessly;  he  had  not  come  here  to  say 
"Merry  Christmas,"  surely. 

"I  suggested  that  Hansen  take  the  little  people  for  a 
five-minutes'  drive,"  he  explained,  "and  then  I  shall 
have  to  hurry  back.  I  wanted  to  speak  to  you  on  a 
matter  of  business,  Miss  Field.  I  wonder — since  you're 


HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER  207 

well  wrapped — if  we  might  walk  to  the  corner  and  meet 
them;  I'll  only  steal  you  from  your  family  for  five 
minutes." 

"Certainly!"  Harriet's  heart  was  singing.  The 
voice,  the  pleasantly  certain  manner,  the  firm,  kind 
mouth — she  drank  in  a  fresh  impression  as  if  she  had 
been  starving!  She  was  hardly  conscious  of  what  he 
said;  it  was  enough  that  he  had  sought  her  out,  that  she 
was  to  have  one  more  word  with  him. 

"I  came  here  to  discuss  my  own  plans,  Miss  Field," 
he  said  at  the  gate,  "but  a  hint  from  your  sister  has 
made  me  fear  that  perhaps  I  am  too  late.  She  tells  me 
that  you  may  be  making  plans  of  your  own." 

"David?"  Harriet  said,  resentfully.  "I  have  no 
plans  with  David!"  she  said,  simply. 

"I  didn't  know,"  Richard  answered.  "I  came  to 
ask  you  to  come  back.  Things  are  in  an  absolute  mess 
with  us.  We  have  not  had  a  serene  moment  since  you 
left  us — three  weeks  ago." 

To  go  back — back  to  Crownlands!  Harriet's  spirit 
soared.  She  had  been  strong  enough  to  leave,  to  leave 
Nina's  young  impertinence,  and  Madame  Carter's  cold- 
ness, but  she  knew  she  must  go  back!  She  had  only 
despaired  of  their  ever  needing  her  again.  Every  fibre 
of  her  being  strained  toward  the  old  life. 

"Linda,  my  sister,  thinks  it  would  be  unwise,"  she 
began.  The  man  interrupted  her. 

"There  has  been  a  new  turn  of  events,  Miss  Field.  I 
had  some  information  last  night  which  may  make  a 
difference,"  he  said,  gravely.  "I  received  a  wire  from 
Pope,  in  France.  My  wife — Isabelle — died  on  an 
operating  table  yesterday  afternoon,  in  Paris." 


208  HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER 

Harriet,  stupefied,  could  only  look  at  him  fixedly  for  a 
long  minute.  Her  lips  parted,  but  she  did  not  speak. 

"Died?"  she  whispered,  sharply.  The  man  nodded 
without  speaking.  "But — but  what  was  it?"  Harriet 
said. 

For  answer  he  gave  her  the  crumpled  cable,  with  the 
bare  statement  of  fact.  She  read  it  dazedly,  looked  at 
his  sombre  face,  and  read  it  again. 

"I  need  not  tell  you  that  it  is  a  shock,"  Richard  said, 
looking  ofF  toward  the  bare  village  in  its  mantle  of 
trampled  snow.  "It — it  is — a  shock."  And  he  folded 
the  cable  and  returned  it  to  his  pocket.  "We  were 
married  twenty-three  years,"  he  said,  simply.  "  She  was 
an  extremely  pretty  girl,  vivacious  and  happy — I 
imagine  hers  was  a  happy  life!" 

"I  can't  believe  it!"  Harriet  said. 

"Well,  now,"  Richard  began  presently  in  a  different 
tone,  "we  are,  as  I  said,  Miss  Field,  in  a  mess.  I  haven't 
told  the  children  this;  they  have  a  lot  of  young  people 
there  over  Christmas.  Bottomley  tells  me  that  he  is 
leaving  on  the  first.  My  mother  and  Nina  are  planning 
some  entertainment  for  New  Year's  night,  and  I  suppose 
ithis  will  end  all  that;  I  should  suppose  that  Nina  and  her 
'brother  must  have  a  period  of  mourning.  I  am  deeply 
involved  in  a  big  project  in  Brazil,  committee  meetings 
all  through  January — I  can't  swing  it,  that's  all. 

"Now,  when  we  last  talked  of  the  subject  together," 
Richard  pursued  in  a  businesslike  way,  "you  objected 
to  the  suggestion  of  a  marriage,  because  my  wife  was 
then  still  alive.  Am  I  correct?" 

"Yes,  that's  correct!"  Harriet  said,  voicelessly.  She 
felt  herself  beginning  to  tremble. 


HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER  209 

"My  purpose  in  coming  to-day  was  to  suggest  that,  if 
that  was  your  sole  objection,"  the  man  continued,  pains- 
takingly, "you  might  feel  the  situation  changed  now. 
I  need  you.  We  all  do.  If  it  is  my  mother  who  makes 
it  impossible,  or  some  other  thing  that  I  cannot  change 
—why,  I  must  get  along  as  best  I  can.  But  my  propo- 
sition is  that  you  and  I  are  quietly  married  to-morrow; 
you  come  back  to-morrow  night,  and  announce  it  when- 
ever you  see  fit.  Of  course,  it  might  be  wiser  not  to 
have  the  two  announcements  come  together;  there  will 
be  the  usual  talk;  Nina  and  my  mother  prostrated;  and 
so  on,  and  perhaps — but  you  must  use  your  own  judg- 
ment there.  I  may  seem  a  little  matter-of-fact  about 
this,  Miss  Field,  but  I  am  hoping  you  understand. 
You  have  impressed  me  as  a  woman  of  unusual  in- 
telligence and  sagacity;  I  am  making  you  an  unsenti- 
mental business  offer.  I  need  you  in  my  life  and  I  offer 
you  certain  advantages  which  it  would  be  silly  and 
school-boyish  for  me  to  deny  I  possess.  I  have  a  certain 
standing  in  the  community  which  even  Mrs.  Carter's 
madness  has  not  seemed  to  impair  seriously.  The  boy 
and  the  girl  both  love  you,  and  you  have  my  warmest 
friendship.  As  for  the  financial  end  there  will  be  the 
usual  provision  made  for  you  in  case  of  my  death  and  I 
will  make  the  same  monthly  arrangement  with  you  that 
I  had  with  Isabelle.  I  mention  these  matters  so  that 
you  may  understand  that  your  position  in  my  house- 
hold will  be  as  free  and  independent  as  was  Isabelle's. 
I  do  not  know  whether  you  will  consider  this  a  fair  re- 
turn for  what  I  ask,  for  after  all  you  are  giving  your 
services  for  life  to  the  Carter  household 

"Now,  this  is  of  course  entirely  subject  to  what 


210  HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER 

pleases  you  in  the  matter,"  he  broke  off  to  say  em- 
phatically. "  I  merely  throw  it  out  as  a  suggestion.  It 
would  please  me  very  much.  I  would  draw  a  long 
breath  of  relief  to  have  it  settled.  Mrs.  Tabor  is  there — 
stays  there;  takes  the  head  of  my  table.  I  spent  last 
night  at  the  club;  I  had  cabled  Pope — and  expected  an 
answer,  but  my  mother  telephoned  me  at  three  o'clock 
this  morning  to  say  that  Ward  and  some  of  his  friends 
had  gone  out  ice-skating.  Ward's  been  dropped  from 
his  university.  I  can't  have  that  sort  of  thing,  you 
know!" 

"When — did  you  want  me?"  Harriet  brought  her 
beautiful  eyes  back  from  some  far  vista. 

''To-morrow?"  he  said,  with  sudden  hope  in  his  voice. 

"To-morrow!"  the  girl  echoed,  in  a  dream. 

"I  thought  that  if  you  could  meet  me  at  my  office 
to-morrow,  I  would  have  all  the  arrangements  made. 
Nina  is  to  be  at  the  Hawkes';  I  send  the  car  for  her  at 
three.  I  thought  that  you  and  she  could  go  home  to- 
gether to  Crownlands.  I'll  have  to  be  in  town  that 
night." 

"Home — to  Crownlands!"  Suddenly  Harriet's  lip 
quivered,  and  her  eyes  brimmed  with  tears.  "I'll  be 
very  glad  to  go  back,"  she  said,  in  a  low  voice. 

"Good!"  he  said.  "I  needn't  tell  you  how  I  feel 
about  it,  it  helps  me  out  tremendously.  Now,  about 
to-morrow,  how  would  you  like  that  to  be?" 

"Well,"  she  laughed  desperately  through  her  tears. 
"We're  Church  of  England!"  She  laughed  again  when 
he  took  out  his  notebook  and  wrote  the  words  down. 

"Once  it's  done,"  he  said,  reassuringly,  "you'll  see  my 
mother  and  all  the  rest  of  them  come  into  line!  It  puts 


HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER  211 

you  in  a  definite  position,  and  although  I  may  seem  to 
be  rushing  and  confusing  you  now,  there  is  a  more 
peaceful  time  to  come — we'll  hope!"  he  added,  grimly. 
"Here's  Hansen  now.  Lovely  children,"  he  added,  of 
the  young  Davenports  and  some  intimates  who  were 
tumbling  out  of  the  car,  "lovely  mother." 

"You'll  not  speak  of  this  yet?"  Harriet  said,  suddenly 
thinking  of  David  and  Linda.  "My  sister  might  think 
it  lacked  deliberation — so  close  upon  Mrs.  Carter's 
death.  I'd  rather  have  a  little  time,  get  things  straight- 
ened out " 

"Oh,  certainly — certainly!"  She  could  see  he  was 
relieved,  was  indeed  in  cheerful  spirits,  as  he  gave  his 
furred  hand  to  the  children's  mittened  ones.  They 
thanked  him  shrilly  and  Hansen  smiled  warmly  upon 
Harriet  as  he  touched  his  cap.  Then  they  were  gone. 
Linda,  watching  from  the  window,  thought  that  the 
chauffeur's  obvious  respect  for  Harriet  was  rather  im- 
pressive. She  came  to  the  porch,  and  Richard  waved 
his  farewell  to  them  en  masse. 

"He's  very  nice,"  said  Linda.  "Poor  fellow,  he 
probably  would  have  had  an  entirely  different  moral 
code,  if  his  life  had  been  different!"  Harriet  inwardly 
writhed,  but  she  did  not  stir  in  the  sisterly  embrace  of 
Linda's  arm.  "Now  if  he  would  marry  this  Mrs.  Tabor, 
whoever  she  is,"  Linda  resumed,  comfortably,  "that 
would  be  quite  suitable!  Then  you  could  go  back  with 
perfect  propriety— 

"Oh,  hush,  for  Heaven's  sake!"  Harriet  said,  in  the 
deeps  of  her  being.  But  she  said  nothing  aloud  as  they 
turned  back  into  the  warm  house. 

Fred's  face  was  radiant;  for  no  apparent  purpose  he 


212  HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER 

caught  his  sister-in-law  in  his  arms  as  she  passed  him, 
and  kissed  the  top  of  her  hair 

"Here — here — here — what's  all  this!"  Linda  laughed. 

"Nothing  at  all!"  Fred  said,  evidently  in  boisterous 
spirits.  Harriet  looked  sharply  at  David,  but  he  was 
innocently  laying  train  tracks  for  little  Nammy.  But 
she  suspected  at  once  that  the  elder  brother  had  had  a 
hint  that  matters  were  at  least  under  consideration,  and 
the  rather  aimless  laugh  with  which  Linda  presently 
embraced  her,  and  the  air  of  suppressed  excitement  that 
marked  the  Christmas  dinner,  all  confirmed  the  sus- 
picion. She  felt  a  prickling  sensation  of  the  skin;  a 
flush  of  helpless  annoyance. 


CHAPTER  XV 

AT  THREE  o'clock  the  next  afternoon,  Nina  Carter, 
leaving  the  Hawkes'  mansion  in  New  York  City,  with  a 
great  many  laughing  farewells,  descended  to  her  father's 
waiting  car,  and  discovered,  sitting  therein,  an  ex- 
tremely handsome  young  woman,  furred  and  trimly 
veiled,  and  deep  in  pleasant  conversation  with  Hansen. 

"Miss  Harriet!"  Nina  ejaculated,  in  a  tone  that  be- 
trayed a  vague  resentment  as  well  as  a  definite  sur- 
prise. 

"Nina,  dear!"  Harriet  accepted  Nina's  kiss  warmly. 
"Are  you  glad  to  see  me?"  And  as  Nina  stumbled  in, 
and  established  herself,  Harriet  continued  easily, 
"Your  father  and  I  had  a  talk,  my  dear,  and  he  sug- 
gested that  I  come  back  for  awhile.  So  Hansen  picked 
me  up  at  the  office,  and  here  I  am!  He  tried  to  tele- 
phone you,  I  know,  but  you  were  out.  And  now,"  said 
Harriet,  glancing  at  her  wrist  watch,  "I  think  we  will 
go  right  home,  please,  Hansen!" 

Nina  had  been  her  own  mistress  for  several  delicious 
weeks,  and  to  have  any  sort  of  restriction  again  was  very 
unpalatable  to  her.  Harriet  could  almost  have  laughed 
at  her  discomfiture,  although  she  was  sorry  for  her,  too. 
Nina  smiled  and  listened  with  notable  effort;  Harriet 
knew  she  was  chagrined. 

She  sulked  all  the  way  home,  and  Madame  Carter, 
meeting  them  at  Crownlands,  gazed  rather  stonily  at  the 

213 


214  HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER 

newcomer,  granting  her  only  the  briefest  greeting. 
But  oh,  how  homelike  and  welcoming  the  beautiful 
place,  mantled  in  snow,  looked  to  Harriet's  eyes.  The 
snapping  fires,  the  warmth  and  fragrance  of  the  big 
rooms,  and  the  very  obvious  welcome  of  the  maids,  all 
were  enchanting  to  her.  Her  first  duty  was  to  make 
a  brief  tour  below  stairs,  after  which  she  went  up  to  her 
own  room. 

When  they  returned  from  Huntington  in  the  fall,  she 
and  Nina  at  Richard's  suggestion  had  taken  Isabelle's 
handsome  rooms,  turning  both  into  bedrooms,  and 
sharing  the  dressing  rooms  and  bath  that  joined  them. 
It  was  here  that  Harriet  found  Nina  awaiting  her,  still 
with  her  hat  on,  and  loitering  with  obvious  discomfiture. 
There  had  been  no  actual  changes  in  her  room  except 
that  the  personal  touch  was  gone.  Bottomley  had  put 
her  bags  here,  and  Nina  spoke  first  of  them. 

"You've  got  a  new  suitcase?" 

"Yes,  I  got  that  this  morning;  isn't  it  stunning?" 
Harriet  eyed  its  shiny  blackness  with  satisfaction.  "I 
had  to  get  a  gown  or  two,"  she  added,  "and  some  little 
things!  We've  been  so  quiet  at  Mrs.  Davenport's  that 
I  hadn't  any  new  clothes.  Pip  was  ill,  you  know." 

"Miss  Harriet!"  Nina  said  with  a  rush.  "You're 
so  sweet  about  things  like  this,  I  wonder  if  you  will  mind 
taking  the  yellow  guest  room — it's  really  much  larger 
— and  leaving  this  room?  You  see  when  I  have 
friends " 

Harriet,  at  the  dressing  table,  had  raised  her  hands 
to  remove  her  hat.  Like  any  general,  she  realized  the 
crisis  of  the  apparently  unimportant  moment,  and  met 
it  by  instinct. 


HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER  215 

"But  you  have  an  extra  bed,  besides  the  couch,  in 
your  room,  Nina!" 

Nina  cleared  her  throat,  threw  back  her  head,  re- 
garded Harriet  between  half-closed  eyelids  in  a  manner 
Harriet  realized  was  new,  and  drawled :  . . 

"  I  know.     But  if  you  would  be  so  very  kind ? " 

"Do  you  know,  I'm  afraid  I  shan't  be  so  very  kind!" 
Harriet  said,  briskly.  "You're  one  of  my  duties  here, 
you  know,  little  girl,  and  I  think  Daddy  would  prefer  to 
have  me  near  you!  Now,  if  you  like  to  ask  him,  per- 
haps he'll  not  agree  with  me;  in  which  case  I  shall  move 

immediately!  But  meanwhile "  She  picked  up  a 

thick  book  from  the  table,  read  the  title  idly:  '"Secret 
Memoirs  of  the  Favourites  of  the  French  Courts!'  Where 
on  earth  did  you  get  this?"  she  asked,  surprised. 
"'Five  Dollars  Net,'"  she  mused,  glancing  through  it. 
"How  well  I  know  this  sort  of  rubbish!  There  are 
thousands  of  them  on  the  market,  exquisitely  printed, 
beautifully  bound,  and  just  so  much — rot!  Secret 
memoirs  of  the  favourites  of  the  French  Courts  indeed ! 
Most  of  them  hadn't  the  brains  to  write  a  decent  note!" 
scoffed  Harriet,  cheerfully. 

Nina's  face  was  scarlet;  she  left  the  room  abruptly. 
A  moment  or  two  later  Harriet  sauntered  into  the  ad- 
joining room,  and  found  her  again.  The  younger  girl 
was  assuming  a  ruffled  and  beribboned  negligee,  and 
tossing  her  wraps  and  street  dress  about  carelessly. 
Harriet  noted  this  with  disapproving  eyes,  but  said 
nothing.  There  was  an  immense  picture  of  Mrs.  Tabor 
on  the  dressing  table,  and  she  found  in  that  a  sudden 
solution  of  the  strange  change  in  Nina. 

"'With  Ladybird's  unending  devotion,  to  Ninette,' * 


216  HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER 

read  Harriet,  from  the  inky  scrawl  across  the  picture. 
"Do  you  call  her  Ladybird,  Nina?  You  and  she  have 
formed  a  pretty  strong  friendship,  haven't  you?" 

"Oh,  something  more  than  that!"  Nina  drawled  in 
her  new  manner.  But,  being  Nina,  she  could  not  resist 
the  desire  to  display  the  new  possession.  She  jerked 
open  a  desk  drawer,  and  Harriet  saw  thick  letters,  still 
in  their  envelopes,  and  tied  in  bundles.  "We  write 
each  other  almost  every  day!"  said  Nina,  yawning,  as 
she  flung  herself  down  upon  a  couch,  and  reached  for  a 
book. 

"I  should  fancy  she  would  make  a  loyal  friend," 
Harriet  observed,  generously.  Nina  softened  a  little, 
although  her  voice  was  still  carefully  bored  and  arro- 
gant when  she  spoke: 

"Oh,  she's  the  best  sort!" 

It  was  one  of  Mrs.  Tabor's  phrases,  Harriet  recog- 
nized. She  moved  easily  about  the  room,  picking  up 
other  handsome,  superbly  illustrated  volumes:  "An 
American  Woman  in  the  Sultan's  Harem,"  "A  Favourite 
of  Kings." 

"Does  she  have  my  room  when  she  is  here?"  Harriet 
presently  suggested,  sympathetically.  "Now,  my  dear," 
she  added,  as  Nina's  quick  self-conscious  and  hostile 
look  gave  consent,  "Mrs.  Tabor  is  too  thoroughly  ac- 
quainted with  convention  to  blame  you  if  your  father 
keeps  you  under  a  governess's  eye  for  a  little  while 
longer.  You're  the  most  precious  thing  your  father  has, 
Nina,  and  as  I  used  to  remind  you  years  ago,  you  don't 
begin  to  have  the  restrictions  that  the  European  prin- 
cesses have  to  bear!" 

This  view  of  the  case  was  always  pleasing  to  Nina's 


HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER  217 

vanity;  she  was  quite  clever  enough  to  see  that  a  friend 
protected  and  confined,  watched  and  valued,  would  lose 
no  prestige  with  the  charming  "Ladybird."  She  pouted ; 
and  Harriet  saw  that  for  the  moment  the  battle  was 
hers. 

"Darling  gown!"  said  Harriet  of  the  picture. 

"Oh,  she  has  the  most  wonderful  clothes!"  It  was 
the  old  Nina's  voice.  "She  doesn't  spend  much,  but 
she  goes  to  the  best  places,  and  they  know  her  there,  and 
the  women  at  Hatson's  will  say,  'I've  got  a  gown  for 
you,  Mrs.  Tabor!'  She  picked  out  this  negligee,  and 
she  picked  out  another  gown  for  me  that  you  haven't 
seen.  That  was  one  thing  that  made  trouble  between 
her  and  her  husband,"  Nina  said,  eagerly.  "She  can't 
help  looking  smart,  and  he  used  to  get  so  jealous,  and 
she  told  me  that  she  told  the  judge  exactly  what  she 
spent  for  clothes  the  last  year,  and  he  said  that  that  was 
less  than  his  wife  spent,  mind  you,  and  he  said  he  didn't 
know  how  she  did  it!  And  that  was  tine  judge,  that  had 
never  laid  eyes  on  her  before!  She  used  to  cry  and  cry, 
after  she  got  her  divorce,  because  she  said  that  she 
thought  there  was  a  sort  of  disgrace  about  it.  But  this 
judge  in  Nevada  said  that  a  man  like  Jack  Tabor  ought 
to  be  horsewhipped!" 

"Has  she- been  here  very  much?"  Harriet  said,  after  a 
moment. 

"Oh,  lots!  She  loves  to  be  here,  and  I  can't  think 
why,"  Nina  said,  "because  people  are  all  crazy  to  get 
her,  and  she  could  go  to  the  most  wonderful  dinners 
and  things.  But  she  really  is  just  like  a  girl,  herself; 
sometimes  we  burst  right  out  laughing,  because  we 
think  exactly  the  same  about  things !  And  she  just  loves 


218  HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER 

picnics,  and  to  let  her  hair  down — and  she's  so  funny  ! 
You'll  just  love  her  when  you  know  her— 

Nina,  Harriet  reflected,  had  had  a  thorough  dose  of 
poison.  It  would  take,  like  many  diseases,  more  poison 
to  cure  her,  a  counter  dose.  Going  to  her  room  to 
change  to  one  of  the  new  gowns,  Harriet  had  a  moment 
of  contempt  for  the  new-found  intimate,  who  could  so 
unscrupulously  play  upon  the  girl's  hungry  soul.  But 
with  this  situation  it  was  possible  to  cope;  there  was 
definite  comfort  in  the  fact  that  Nina  had.not  mentioned 
Royal  Blondin. 

Brave  in  the  new  gown,  whose  lustreless  black  velvet 
made  even  more  brilliant  her  matchless  skin,  Harriet 
went  to  find  Ward.  She  met  instead  one  of  his  house- 
guests,  Corey  Eaton,  a  man  some  years  older  than  Ward, 
a  big,  rawboned,  unscrupulous  youth,  with  a  wild  and 
indiscriminate  laugh.  Mr.  Eaton,  greeting  her  en- 
thusiastically, admitted  frankly  that  he  was  just  up 
from  bed,  and  that  he  had  been  "lit  up  like  a  battleship" 
last  night,  and  that  he  still  felt  the  effects  of  it. 

"Mr.  Eaton,"  Harriet  said,  in  an  undertone,  making 
another  strategic  decision,  "come  in  here  to  the  library, 
will  you?  I  want  to  speak  to  you." 

"When  you  speak  to  me  thus,"  said  Corey  Eaton, 
passionately,  "I  can  refuse  you  naught!" 

But  he  sobered  instantly  into  tremendous  gravity  at 
Harriet's  first  confidence.  She  told  him  simply  of  Isa- 
belle's  death. 

"Well,  that  surely  is  rotten — the  poor  old  boy!"  said 
Corey,  affectionately.  "Ward's  mad  about  his  mother, 
too!  Weil,  say,  what  do  you  know  about  that?  We'll 
beat  it,  Miss  Field,  Nixon  and  I.  We  came  in  my  carp 


HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER  219 

and  we'll  go  to  the  Jays'  for  dinner.  Say,  that  is  tough, 
though,  isn't  it?" 

It  was  not  eloquent,  but  it  was  sincere,  and  Harriet 
made  her  thanks  so  personal  and  so  flattering  that  the 
young  man  could  only  fervently  push  his  plans  for  de- 
parture, swearing  secrecy,  and  evidently  touched  by 
being  taken  into  her  confidence.  The  fastnesses  were 
yielding  one  after  another;  Harriet  could  have  laughed 
as  she  left  him  at  the  foot  of  the  stairs.  Bottomley 
respectfully  addressed  her  as  she  turned  back  into  the 
hall: 

"Miss  Field,  I  wonder  if  you'd  be  so  good ?" 

She  nodded,  and  accompanied  him  instantly  into  the 
pantry  where  they  could  be  alone. 

"It's  Madame,"  said  Bottomley,  bitterly,  "she's  just 
'ad  me  up  there  agine,  it's  really  tryin' — that's  what  it 
is.  It's  tryin' !  Now  she  'ad  to  'ave  her  say  about  you 
bein'  at  table,  Miss  Field.  I  says  that  you  'ad  stipu- 
hted  that  you  was  to  be  there.  Now,  I  says,  and  I  says 
it  arbitrarily  like,  and  yet  I  says  it  respectful,  too — 

"Now,  just  wait  one  moment,  Bottomley,"  Harriet 
said,  soothingly.  "I  want  to  talk  to  you  and  Pilgrim. 
Is  she  in  her  room?  Suppose  we  go  there?" 

Pleased  with  the  consideration  in  her  manner,  the 
outraged  Bottomley  led  the  way.  Mrs.  Bottomley  was 
enjoying  a  solitary  cup  of  tea;  she  bustled  hospitably  for 
more  cups. 

"I  want  to  tell  you  that  your  comin'  has  taken  a  load 
off  my  soul,"  said  Pilgrim,  a  gray,  round-visaged 
woman  who  had  a  sentimental  heart,  "and  so  I  said  to 
Mr.  Carter  not  three  days  since!  I  know  that  Bottom- 
ley,"  said  Pilgrim  with  an  Englishwoman's  admiring 


220  HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER 

look  for  her  lord,  "would  never  have  spoke  so  harsh  if 
he  had  but  known  you  might  come  back.  It's  been 
very  bad,  indeed,  Miss,  since  you  went,  as  we  was  tellin' 
you  a  bit  back.  Impudence,  orders  this  way  and  that, 
confusion  and  what  not,  and  Mr.  Ward  very  wild,  really 
very  wild,  and  so  at  last  Bottomley  said  he  couldn't 
stand  it." 

"I'm  hoping  he  will  reconsider  that,"  Harriet  said, 
pleasantly,  with  a  glance  at  the  face  Bottomley  tried  to 
make  inflexible.  "For  I'm  going  to  tell  you  two  old 
friends  some  news.  We  have  always  been  friends, 
haven't  we?"  said  Harriet. 

"It  would  be  'ard  to  be  anything  else,  and  I've  said  it 
before  this!  It's  a  different  'ouse  with  you  in  it!" 
Bottomley  said.  Pilgrim,  rocking  to  and  fro,  clasped 
Harriet's  hand  to  her  breast,  and  beamed.  With  no 
further  preamble  Harriet  announced  Isabelle's  death. 

The  servants  were  naturally  shocked.  There  were  a 
few  moments  of  ejaculatory  and  sorrowful  surprise. 
Her  that  was  so  young  and  so  'andsome,  and  went  off 
so  bold  and  high!  It  didn't  seem  possible,  so  far  away 
from  'ome  and  all. 

When  this  had  died  away,  Harriet  had  more  news. 

"I'm  going  to  tell  you  two  something,"  she  began. 
"You  are  the  very  first  to  know,  and  I  know  you'll  be 
glad.  Before  I  left  the  house  last  October,  Mr.  Carter 
did  me  the — the  great  honour  to  ask  me  to — to  marry 
him." 

It  gave  her  inward  delight  even  to  voice  it;  it  made 
the  miracle  seem  more  real.  Bottomley  and  Pilgrim 
exchanged  stupefied  glances  in  a  dead  silence. 

"I  met  him  at  eleven  o'clock  to-day,"  Harriet  finished, 


HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER  221 

simply,  "and  we  drove  to  Greenwich  in  Connecticut, 
and  we  were  married  at  one  o'clock." 

Bottomley  and  Pilgrim  glanced  again  at  each  other, 
glanced  at  Harriet,  opened  their  mouths  slowly. 

Then  Pilgrim  dropped  the  hand  she  was  familiarly 
caressing,  and  Bottomley  rose  slowly  to  his  feet. 

"Oh,  no!"  Harriet  said,  flushing  in  utter  confusion 
and  with  a  nervous  laugh.  "Oh,  please!  Please  sit 
down,  Bottomley,  and  please  don't  either  of  you  think 
that  it  has  made  any  difference.  Although  I  am  Mrs. 
Carter  now,  I'm  still  Miss  Nina's  companion!" 

"To  think  of  you  bein'  Mrs.  Carter!"  Pilgrim  mar- 
velled in  a  whisper. 

"Oh,  sh-sh-sh!  You  mustn't  say  it  even!"  Harriet 
caught  both  their  hands.  "No  one  must  know.  I  only 
told  you  so  that  you  would  help  me,  so  that  you  would 
understand !  There  will  be  no  change,  anywhere — 

Bottomley  shook  a  dazed  head;  but  Pilgrim  looked  at 
the  other  woman  with  kindly  eyes,  and  presently  said: 

"Well,  now,  it's  hard  on  you,  so  young  and  pretty  and 
all,  and  goin'  right  on  as  if  you  wasn't  married  a  bit!" 

Harriet  only  smiled,  but  she  blinked  black  lashes  that 
the  little  touch  of  sympathy  had  suddenly  made  wet. 
And  presently  when  Bottomley  was  gone,  and  she  about 
to  follow  him,  she  laid  one  hand  on  Pilgrim's  broad 
black  alpaca  shoulder,  and  said: 

"I  had  my  own  reasons,  Pilgrim,  you  know. 
Reasons  that  make  it  all  seem — right,  to  me! " 

"Well,  why  wouldn't  you?"  Pilgrim  said,  approvingly. 
"You'd  have  been  a  very  silly  girl  not  to  take  him,  and 
—as  I  always  tell  the  girls — love'll  come  fast  enough 
afterwards!' 


222  HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER 

The  words  came  back  to  Harriet,  hours  later,  when 
the  house  was  quiet,  and  when,  comfortably  wrapped  in 
a  loose  silk  robe,  she  was  musing  beside  her  fire.  Nina 
was  asleep;  to  Ward,  who  was  headachy  and  feverish, 
she  had  paid  a  late  visit.  He  had  been  sick  enough, 
after  the  revel  of  Christmas  Eve,  to  summon  a  doctor 
to-day;  and  was  dozing  restlessly  now,  under  the  effect 
of  a  sedative.  Madame  Carter  had  not  come  down  to 
dinner,  and  when  Harriet  had  sent  in  a  message,  had 
asked  to  be  excused  from  any  calls,  even  from  Nina  and 
Miss  Field,  this  evening. 

Nina  had  chattered  constantly  during  the  meal. 
Granny  had  had  a  terrible  time  with  them  all.  And 
Ward  and  Nina  and  "Royal" — the  name  suddenly 
leaped  between  them  again — had  been  arrested  for 
speeding.  And  Daddy  had  threatened  Nina  with  a 
boarding-school,  and  Granny  had  cried. 

"Where  is  Mr.  Blondin  now,  Nina?"  Harriet  had 
asked. 

"Oh,  he's  round!"  Nina  had  said,  airily.  "I  suppose 
you  put  Daddy  up  to  saying  that  I  wasn't  to  see  so 
much  of  him!"  she  had  added,  with  her  worldly  wise 
drawl. 

"Not  at  all,"  Harriet  had  said. 

"Ladybird  and  I  are  planning  a  trip,"  Nina  had 
further  confided.  "I  shall  be  eighteen  in  February, 
you  know,  and  we  want  to  go  round  the  world.  Would- 
n't it  be  wonderful  to  go  with  her,  for  she's  been  about 
fifty  times!" 

"Wonderful!"  Harriet  had  been  obliged  to  concede. 

"You  know" — and  Nina,  in  good  spirits,  had  put 
her  arm  about  Harriet  as  they  left  the  table — "you 


HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER  223 

know,  some  day  I'd  love  to  do  it  with  you!"  she  had 
said,  soothingly.  "And  some  day  we  will,  for  I  mean  to 
travel  a  great  deal.  But  just  now — she  spoke  of  it,  you 
know.  And  it  would  be  such  an  unusual  opportunity. 
We're  going  to  Algiers — and  Athens — Mr.  Blondin  is 
making  out  the  list  for  us,  and  wouldn't  it  be  fun  if  he 
could  go,  too?  He's  afraid  he  can't,  but  if  he  could /" 

"But,  dearest  child,  what  does  your  father  think?" 

"Father —  Nina  had  shrugged  regretfully. 

"But  I  shall  be  of  age!"  she  had  reminded  her  com- 
panion. 

"Yes,  I  know,  dear,  but  Father's  ward  for  another 
three  years,  you  know ! " 

"Why,  Ladybird  says" — the  girl  had  been  ready, 
and  had  spoken  with  flushed  cheeks — "Ladybird  says 
that  in  that  case  we'll  go  anyway,  and  she'll  pay  all 
expenses !  That's  the  kind  of  friend  she  is ! " 

And  Nina  had  flounced  to  a  telephone,  and  had 
telephoned  her  friend  in  New  York,  laughing,  coquetting, 
and  murmuring  for  a  blissful  half  hour. 

"Love'll  come  fast  enough  afterward!"  Pilgrim  had 
said,  and  Harriet  thought  Pilgrim  was  rather  a  wise 
woman,  in  her  homely  way.  The  girl  stirred  the  fire 
and  settled  herself  to  watch  it  again. 

After  what?  Well,  certainly  not  after  anything  so 
short,  simple,  and  unconvincing  as  that  three  minutes 
with  the  clergyman  to-day.  The  utter  unreality  of 
that  had  seemed  to  blend  with  the  silent,  snowy  day,  and 
with  the  dulled  and  dreamy  condition  of  her  own 
brain.  Snow  was  falling  softly  when  she  had  met 
Richard  Carter  at  the  office,  at  half-past  ten,  and  snow 


224  HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER 

lisped  against  the  windows  of  the  limousine  as  they  two, 
with  Irving  Fox,  Richard's  kindly,  middle-aged,  con- 
fidential clerk,  were  whirled  out  of  the  city,  and  on  and 
on  through  the  bare  little  wintry  towns.  They  had  all 
talked  together,  sometimes  of  herself  and  her  sister, 
sometimes  of  Nina  and  Ward,  of  Fox's  amazing  grand- 
children, and  of  business.  Fox  had  had  some  papers 
to  which  they  occasionally  referred;  the  old  clerk  was 
the  only  person  to  congratulate  Harriet  warmly  when 
the  brief  and  bewildering  business  was  over  and  she  had 
her  wedding  ring.  It  was  alone  with  Fox  that  she  made 
the  return  trip.  Richard  came  back  by  train,  saving 
an  hour,  and  was  at  the  office  when  they  got  there. 
Harriet  did  not  see  him  again;  he  was  in  conference;  and 
presently  she  quietly  got  back  into  the  motor-car,  and 
on  her  way  to  meet  Nina  she  slipped  the  plain  circle  of 
gold  into  her  hand  bag. 

She  had  it  out  to-night,  and  put  it  on  her  bare,  pretty 
hand,  and  held  it  to  the  fire,  and  slowly  the  events  of  the 
bewildering  and  tiring  day  wheeled  before  her,  and  only 
the  reality  of  the  ring  assured  her  that  it  was  not  all 
a  confused  dream.  Married!  And  all  alone  before 
the  glowing  coals,  weary  from  hostile  encounters,  on  her 
marriage  night!  Ward,  to  be  sure,  was  always  her 
champion,  but  Ward  was  drinking  heavily  just  now, 
and  her  influence  was  none  the  stronger  because  he 
admired  her  while  she  held  him  at  arm's-length. 
Nina  was  all  ready  to  flame  into  defiance,  and  the  old 
lady's  message  had  not  been  reassuring. 

"But  Bottomley  and  Pilgrim  will  stand  by  me!" 
Harriet  said,  with  a  shaky  laugh.  She  looked  about  the 
beautiful  familiar  room,  the  room  that  had  been  Isa- 


HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER  225 

belle's  for  so  many  years,  and  wondered  to  think  of 
Isabelle,  lying  dead  so  far  away,  and  a  usurper  already 
holding  her  name  and  place. 

She  had  intended  to  write  to  Linda  to-night;  Linda 
was  vexed  with  her,  and  small  wonder!  For  Harriet 
had  left  the  little  New  Jersey  house  almost  without 
farewells,  had  come  down  to  an  earlier  breakfast  even 
than  Fred's,  and  had  said  briefly  that  she  was  returning 
to  the  Carters,  and  would  see  them  all  soon. 

Why  hadn't  she  told  Linda?  Well,  for  one  reason, 
she  had  hardly  believed  her  own  memory  of  the  talk  on 
Christmas  Day  with  Richard.  Then  she  had  feared 
opposition,  feared  Linda's  shocked  references  to  decent 
intervals  of  mourning;  Linda's  frank  unbelief  that  there 
was  no  strong  personal  feeling  involved  on  Richard's 
part;  Linda's  advice  to  a  bride. 

Harriet's  face  burned  at  the  mere  thought  of  it.  No, 
she  couldn't  tell  Linda  yet;  she  was  too  tired  to  write 
to-night,  anyway.  Linda  and  Fred  had  not  been  at  all 
approving,  Christmas  night.  David  had  reproached 
her,  had  disappeared  earlier  than  was  expected  or 
necessary;  they  had  not  failed  of  their  suspicions. 

"Well!  I  must  go  to  bed,"  she  said  aloud,  suddenly. 
She  stood,  one  elbow  on  the  mantel,  her  beautiful  eyes 
fixed  on  the  dying  fire.  It  was  midnight,  the  room  and 
the  house  very  still.  Outside  the  snow  was  still  falling 
—falling.  Her  loose  gown  slipped  back  from  the  round 
young  arm,  fell  in  folds  about  the  slender  figure;  her 
rich  hair  was  braided,  and  hung  in  a  rope  of  gold  over 
one  shoulder.  Her  smoke-blue  eyes,  heavy-lidded  in  a 
rather  white  face,  met  their  own  gaze  in  the  mirror. 
"It  isn't  exactly  what  I  expected  marriage  to  be," 


226  HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER 

mused  Harriet,  smiling  at  the  exquisite  vision  upon 
which  no  other  eyes  would  fall.  "But  after  all,"  she 
said  to  herself,  beginning  to  move  about  with  last 
preparations  for  bed,  "I'm  married  to  the  man  I  love — 
nothing  can  change  that.  And  if  he  doesn't  love  me,  he 
likes  me.  I've  done  nothing  wrong,  and  if  my  life  is 
just  a  little  different  from  most  women's,  why,  I  shall 
have  to  make  the  best  of  it!  And  I  did  tell  him — I  did 
tell  him- 

And  her  thoughts  went  back  to  the  first  few  minutes 
she  had  spent  in  Richard's  office  that  day.  They 
had  been  alone,  discussing  the  last  details  of  their 
astonishing  plan,  when  she  had  suddenly  taken  the 
plunge. 

"Mr.  Carter,  there  is  just  one  thing!  Of  course," 
Harriet's  cheeks  had  flamed,  "of  course,  this  marriage  of 
ours  is  not  the  usual  marriage,  and  yet,  there  is  just  one 
thing  of  which  I  would  like  to  speak  to  you  before  we — 
we  go  up  to  Greenwich."  And  finding  his  gray  eyes 
pleasantly  fixed  upon  her  she  had  gone  on,  confused  but 
determined:  "I'm  twenty-seven  now — and  perhaps 
I  might  have  married  some  other  man  before  this — 
except  that — when  I  was  seventeen — I  did  fall  in  love 

with  a  man!  And  we  were  to  be  married !"  She 

had  stopped  short;  it  was  incredibly  hard.  "He  had — 
or  I  thought  he  had,  brought  something  tremendously 
big  and  wonderful  into  my  life,"  Harriet  had  continued, 
"and  I  was  a  stupid  little  girl,  just  taking  care  of  my 
sister's  babies  and  reading  my  father's  books " 

"You  are  under  no  obligation  to  tell  me  anything  of 
this,"  Richard  had  said,  kindly,  far  more  concerned  for 
her  distress  than  interested  in  what  she  was  saying. 


HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER  227 

<:I  must  have  known  that  there  were  admirers!  I 
assure  you  that— 

"No,  but  just  a  moment!"  Harriet  had  interrupted 
him.  "I  was  infatuated — I  knew  that  at  once,  God 
knows  I've  known  it  ever  since!  I  went  away  with 
him,  little  fool  that  I  was!" 

A  gleam  of  genuine  surprise  had  come  into  Richard 
Carter's  eyes,  and  he  looked  at  her  without  speaking. 

"  I  was  taken  ill  the  day  I  left  with  him.  While  I  was 
getting  well  I  had  time  to  think  it  over.  I  knew  then  I 
was  too  young  and  too  ignorant  to  be  any  man's  wife. 
I  was  frightened  and  I — well,  I  ran  away;  I  went  back 
to  my  sister.  Both  she  and  her  husband  regarded  me 
after  that  as  in  some  way  marked,  unprincipled,  un- 
worthy— 

"Poor  child!"  Richard  had  said.  "They  naturally 
would.  You  were  no  more  than  Nina's  age ! " 

"So  that's  my  history,"  Harriet  had  finished,  simply. 
"I  thought  I  had  done  with  men.  And  there  have 
been  men,  men  like  Ward,  for  instance,  to  whom  I  could 
have  been  married  without  feeling  that  I  need  make 
any  mention  of  that  old  time.  But  I  wanted  to  tell 
you." 

"Thank  you  very  much,"  Richard  had  said,  gravely. 
"If  the  protection  of  my  name  and  my  house  seems 
welcome  to  you,  after  some  battling  with  the  world,  it 
will  be  an  additional  satisfaction  to  me." 

And  then  before  another  word  was  spoken  Fox  had 
come  in,  announcing  the  car,  and  they  had  begun  the 
long,  strange  drive.  And  now,  deep  in  the  quiet  winter 
night,  she  was  back  at  Crownlands,  alone  beside  her 
fire,  able  at  last  to  rest,  and  to  remember.  It  seemed 


228  HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER 

to  her  that  ever  since  Richard's  call  on  Linda's  Christ- 
mas household  yesterday  she  had  walked  strangely 
detached  and  isolated,  with  odd  booming  noises  in  her 
ears,  and  a  panicky  thumping  at  her  heart.  Now  she 
felt  suddenly  safe  and  secure  again;  none  of  the  op- 
positions she  had  vaguely  feared,  from  David,  from 
Linda,  from  the  family  at  Crownlands,  had  interrupted 
the  mad  plan;  she  was  in  a  stronger  position  now  than 
ever,  and  if  the  path  before  her  was  dangerous  and 
difficult,  she  was  not  too  weary  to-night  to  feel  confident 
of  following  it  to  the  end. 

She  got  into  the  luxurious  bed,  put  out  the  bedside 
light,  and  lay  with  her  hands  clasped  behind  her  head, 
thinking.  The  clock  struck  one;  snow  was  still  falling 
steadily  outside,  but  in  here  the  last  pink  glow  of  fire- 
light flickered  and  sank — flickered  and  sank  lazily.  It 
touched  the  flowered  basket  chairs,  the  roses  that  filled 
a  bowl  on  the  bookshelf,  the  table  with  its  shaded  lamp 
and  its  magazines. 

Some  sudden  thought  made  Harriet  smile  ruefully. 
She  indicated  that  it  was  unwelcome  by  turning  over  to 
bury  her  bright  head  in  the  pillow,  and  resolutely  com- 
posing herself  for  sleep. 


CHAPTER  XVI 

MORNING  found  them  half-buried  in  a  bright  dazzle 
of  snow,  the  midwinter  miracle  that  sets  the  most 
jaded  heart  singing  and  the  weariest  blood  to  moving 
more  quickly.  The  bare  trees  glittered  in  a  glassy 
casing,  and  every  twig  carried  its  burden  of  soft  fur. 
Half-a-dozen  shovels  were  scraping  and  clinking  about 
Crownlands  when  Nina  and  Harriet  came  downstairs, 
and  Harriet  saw  the  men  laughing  and  talking  as 
they  worked.  The  telephone  announced  Francesca 
Jay,  with  an  eager  luncheon  invitation  for  Nina  and 
Ward;  they  were  bob-sledding,  and  it  was  perfectly 
glorious ! 

"I  wish  I  liked  people  as  much  as  they  like  me," 
Nina  remarked  over  her  breakfast.  "Now  I  like  the 
Jays — but  this  being  invited  everywhere — all  the  time!" 
Harriet,  who  suspected  that  Miss  Jay's  hospitality  was 
really  directed  at  the  engaging  Ward,  good-naturedly 
persuaded  him  to  go  with  his  sister,  thus  assuring  a  real 
welcome  from  Francesca.  He  looked  pale,  complained 
of  a  headache,  and  breakfasted  on  black  coffee,  but 
agreed  with  her  that  fresh  air  and  exercise  would  be  the 
one  sure  cure  for  him,  and  tramped  off  beside  Nina  at 
eleven  o'clock  willingly  enough. 

Harriet  was  through  with  her  housekeeping  and  her 
luncheon,  and  meditating  a  letter  to  Linda,  when  Ida 
Tabor  fluttered  in.  Harriet  heard  the  gay  voice  at  the 

229 


£30  HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER 

foot  of  the  stairs:  "Oh,  sweetheart!  Where's  my 
little  girl?" 

Mrs.  Tabor  looked  a  trifle  dashed  when  only  Harriet 
responded,  although  she  immediately  assured  Miss 
Field  cordially  with  bright  insincerity  that  she  had 
known  of  her  return,  and  was  "  so  glad ! " 

"I've  been  a  sort  of  big  sister  here,"  she  said,  laugh- 
ingly, "and,  my  Lord,  these  kids  have  managed  things 
wonderfully!  But  I  suppose  sooner  or  later  the  ma- 
chinery would  have  stalled  without  your  fine  Italian 
hand!" 

"Mr.  Carter  asked  me  to  come  back,"  Harriet 
stated,  simply.  She  thought  the  truth  her  best  weapon, 
but  Mrs.  Tabor  was  ready  for  her. 

"Mary  Putnam  told  us  that  you  were  just  resting  and 
looking  about,"  she  said,  innocently,  "and  Dick — 
generous  that  he  is! — couldn't  feel  comfortably  about 
it,  I  suppose !  Well,  I  wanted  to  see  Nina —  —  ? " 

Harriet  explained  Nina's  absence,  and  Mrs.  Tabor 
pouted. 

"I'd  have  stopped  there,"  she  said.  "I'm  on  my 
way  to  the  Fordyces';  they  have  a  regular  New  Year's 
party,  you  know — 

This  was  deliberate,  Harriet  knew.  Ida  Tabor  had 
not  always  been  admitted  to  the  Fordyces'  sacred 
portals. 

"Blondin  and  I  are  getting  it  up,"  she  further 
elucidated,  "  I  want  Nina  in  it,  and  Ward,  too.  Blondin 
is  lending  us  the  most  gorgeous  tapestries  and  things 
you  ever  saw!" 

Harriet  was  not  concerned  for  Nina's  plans  after  to- 
day; for  Richard  had  telephoned  her  at  three  o'clock 


HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER  231 

that  the  morning  papers  would  have  "the  news,"  and 
that  he  was  coming  home  to  tell  his  children  of  their 
mother's  death,  to-night.  But  she  must  get  rid  of  this 
woman  now,  somehow.  It  would  be  fatal  to  have  Ida 
Tabor  here  when  Richard  Carter  returned.  Her  time 
was  short,  Harriet  thought  anxiously,  for  at  any 
minute  now  the  young  people  might  stream  back  for 
tea. 

"I  might  run  up  now  and  see  the  old  lady!"  said  Mrs. 
Tabor  who  had  flung  off  her  furs,  and  beautified  herself 
at  her  hand-bag  mirror.  "I  don't  really  have  to  get  to 
the  Fordyces'  until  just  before  dinner — really  not  then, 
if  Nina  wanted  me!"  She  pressed  her  lips  together  for 
the  red  colouring.  "Mr.  Carter  be  here  to-night?"  she 
asked,  casually. 

Bottomley  caused  an  interruption.  Harriet  turned 
to  him  with  relief.  But  unfortunately  he  answered  the 
very  question  she  was  trying  to  evade. 

"Mr.  Carter  had  just  telephoned,  'm,  and  says  that 
'e'll  be  'ere  at  about  six,  'm!" 

"Oh,  thank  you,  Bottomley!"  Harriet  turned 
back  to  Ida,  to  see  her  complacently  loosening  outer 
wraps. 

"I  came  in  the  Warrens'  car,"  said  she,  "they  were  to 
run  over  and  say  Merry  Christmas  to  the  Bellamys,  and 
then  pick  me  up.  But — if  I  won't  be  in  the  way! — 
perhaps  I  might  stay  and  see  Nina;  we've  become  great 
chums.  I  suppose  I'd  better  go  to  the  room  I  always 
have?  Then  I'll  run  up  and  get  the  latest  news  of  the 
Battle  of  Shiloh  from  Madame  Carter!" 

It  was  now  or  never;  Harriet's  heart  began  to  beat. 

"Madame  Carter  has  gone  driving,"  she  said.     "She 


232  HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER 

may  be  in  at  any  moment,  but  before  she  comes,  I 
want  to  speak  to  you.  We've  had  terrible  news  here, 
Mrs.  Tabor.  Mr.  Carter  is  coming  home  to  tell  the 
children  and  his  mother  to-night.  Mr.  Pope  cabled 
from  Paris  on  Christmas  Eve  that  Mrs.  Carter  suddenly 
died  that  day!" 

Ida  Tabor  never  felt  anything  very  deeply,  but  her 
emotions  were  accessible  enough,  and  violent  while  they 
lasted.  She  grew  white,  gasped,  somehow  reached  a 

chair,  and  burst  into  honest  tears.  Isabelle ! 

Why,  they  had  been  friends  for  years!  Why,  she  had 
been  so  wonderfully  well  and  strong! 

"My  God,  isn't  that  the  limit!"  said  Mrs.  Tabor, 
drying  her  eyes.  "I  don't  know  why  I'm  such  a  fool," 
she  added,  with  perhaps  a  faint  resentment  of  Harriet's 
calm,  "but  I  declare  it's  just  about  taken  my  breath 
away!  And  they  don't  know  it!  Isn't  that  simply 
terrible!" 

"Nobody  knows  it,"  Harriet  said.  And  not  quite 
innocently  she  added:  "The  Fordyces,  the  Bellamys 
— everyone  who  knew  her — are  in  total  ignorance  of  it ! 
If  you  do  tell  them,  Mrs.  Tabor — and  there  is  no 
reason  why  you  shouldn't — 

"Oh,  I  shall  stay  here  with  Nina  to-night,  anyway!" 
the  visitor  said,  decidedly.  "She'll  need  me,  of  course! 
Poor  little  thing!" 

"It  seems  too  bad  to  spoil  your  New  Year's  plans," 
Harriet  said,  smiling,  "but  you  know  Nina!  She  will 
put  those  long  arms  of  hers  about  you — and  she  won't 
hear  of  your  leaving  her  for  days!  With  Nina," 
Harriet  pursued,  thoughtfully,  "it  isn't  so  much  that 
one  can't  find  a  good  excuse,  as  that  she  won't  hear  of 


HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER  233 

excuses  at  all!  I  remember  when  Mrs.  Carter  first 
went  away,  there  were  days  of  it — weeks  of  it! — just 
talk,  tears,  tears,  and  talk — my  arm  used  to  ache  from 
the  weight  of  Nina's  arm!  Mr.  Carter  intends  to  leave 
for  Chicago  to-morrow,  Ward  will  probably  go  up  to  the 
Eatons'—  Harriet  rambled  on,  not  unconscious 

that  she  was  making  an  impression.  "Anyway,"  she 
finished,  "we  shall  be  fearfully  quiet  and  alone  here,  and 
your  being  here  would  simply  save  the  day  for  Nina!" 

"Oh,  I  really  couldn't  stay  over  New  Year's,"  Mrs. 
Tabor,  looking  slightly  discomfited,  said  slowly.  "You 
see,  the  Fordyces ' 

"Nina  may  keep  you,"  Harriet  said,  lightly.  Perhaps 
the  other  woman  had  a  sudden  vision  of  the  over- 
whelming Nina,  a  Nina  so  convinced  of  her  friend's 
real  desire  to  stay  that  with  a  certain  sportive  heaviness 
she  would  do  the  necessary  telephoning  and  explaining 
herself,  to  keep  her.  Perhaps  she  saw  the  alternate 
vision  of  herself  at  the  Fordyces'  inaccessible,  and  it 
must  be  confessed  dull,  dinner  table,  electrifying  them 
all  with  the  news  of  Isabelle  Carter,  coming  as  one 
admitted  to  the  family  confidence  and  councils.  She 
looked  undecided,  and  bit  her  under-lip. 

"One  wonders ?"  she  said,  musingly.  "Of 

course,  I  shouldn't  want  to  intrude  to-night — it  would 
be  merely  to  have  them  feel  that  I  was  here — 

"Mr.  Carter  has  asked  me  to  see  that  the  family  is 
alone  to-night,"  Harriet  said,  courageously,  "but  of 
course  he  may  feel  that  you  are  an  exception,"  she 
added,  with  the  impersonal  air  of  a  mere  employee. 
"I  only  want  to  be  able  to  tell  him  that  I  repeated  his 
request,  and  told  you  the  reason  for  it.  That's" — 


234  HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPEH 

and  she  smiled  pleasantly — "that  is  as  far  as  my 
authority  goes,  of  course.  I  shall  say  simply  that  you 
know  of  his  wishes,  and  if  you  remain,  I  know  I  can 
say  that  it  was  to  please  Nina!" 

And  now  the  two  women  exchanged  an  open  glance 
that  needed  no  pretence  and  no  concealment,  and  it  was 
a  glance  of  enmity. 

"When  I  visit  this  house  it  is  not  at  your  invitation, 
Miss  Field ! "  said  Mrs.  Tabor,  frankly. 

"I  am  aware  of  that,"  Harriet  said,  simply. 

"Will  you  be  so  kind  as  to  tell  Nina  and  Madame 
Carter,"  the  visitor  was  resuming  her  wraps,  and 
arranging  her  handsome  hat  and  veil,  "that  I  will  be 
here  to-morrow,  and  that  anything  I  can  do  I  will  be  so 
glad  to  do! —  Is  that  Mrs.  Warren's  car,  Bottomley  ? 
Thank  you.  Good  afternoon,  Miss  Field!" 

"Good  afternoon,  Mrs.  Tabor!"  Harriet  followed 
her  to  the  hall  door,  and  heard  a  Parthian  shot,  ad- 
dressed in  a  cheerfully  high  voice  to  kindly  old  Mrs. 
Warren,  Mrs.  Fordyce's  mother,  who  was  in  the 
limousine. 

"Nobody  home!     All  my  trouble  for  nothing!" 

Old  Mrs.  Warren  leaned  against  the  frosted  glass; 
waved  from  the  holly-dressed  interior  at  Harriet,  and 
the  girl  saw  her  lips  frame  "Merry  Christmas!"  The 
door  slammed;  Bottomley  came  with  stately  footsteps 
up  to  the  hall  again.  Harriet  gave  a  little  laugh  of 
triumph.  Now  the  coast  was  clear! 

Thus  it  was  that  Richard  Carter  found  only  his 
mother  and  his  children  at  the  dinner  table  that  night, 
and  no  guests  under  his  roof.  Miss  Field,  to  be  sure, 


HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER  235 

was  at  the  head  of  the  table,  but  then  Miss  Field  was  a 
member  of  the  family.  He  interrogated  her  briefly  as 
they  went  in. 

"Ward's  gang?     That  Eaton  ass?" 

"Oh,  they  went  yesterday!" 

"Speak  to  Bottomley?" 

"Yes.  He  and  Pilgrim  are  quite  reconciled  to 
remaining."  Harriet  buttoned  a  cuff,  to  hide  a  dimple 
that  would  come  to  the  corner  of  her  mouth.  "And 
Mrs.  Tabor  came,  and  would  have  stayed,"  she  could 
not  resist  the  temptation  to  add,  "but  I  persuaded  her 
that  some  other  time  would  be  better!" 

"Scene  with  Nina  about  it?"  Richard  had  asked, 
curiously. 

"Nina  was  not  here,"  Harriet  answered.  And  there 
was  a  faint  smile  in  the  deep  blue  eyes  that  she  raised 
suddenly  to  his. 

"Ah,  well,  I  knew  of  course  that  you  would  manage 
it!"  he  said,  contentedly.  "It  seems  black  art  to  me. 
I  had  enough  of  it ! " 

She  smiled  again,  and  went  quietly  to  her  place.  But 
when  he  summoned  Ward  and  Nina  to  his  mother's 
room,  after  dinner,  she  had  disappeared,  and  the 
family  was  quite  alone  when  he  broke  the  news  to  them. 

Harriet,  presently  needed  again,  was  astonished  at 
the  emotion  of  the  old  lady,  who  had  been  genuinely 
fond  of  her  daughter-in-law,  and  had  always  been  loyal 
to  Isabelle,  as  one  of  the  Carters.  Madame  Carter  was 
greatly  shaken,  Nina  hysterical,  Ward  aggrieved, 
irritated  at  his  own  feeling.  He  had  not  seen  his 
mother  for  seven  months,  she  had  brought  nothing  but 
a  certain  unpleasant  notoriety  to  her  children,  yet  her 


236  HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER 

death  struck  both  the  young  creatures  forcibly,  and 
they  felt  shocked  and  shaken. 

"We  can't  be  in  the  Fordyce  tableaux,"  said  Nina  in 
an  interval  between  floods  of  sobs.  "Not  that  I  would 
want  to,  now!  But  I  don't  know;  it  seems  to  me  that  I 
am  the  most  unfortunate  girl  in  the  world ! " 

"I  think  both  you  and  Ward  should  wear  black  for  a 
certain  period,"  Richard  said  to  her.  He  had  been 
walking  the  floor  nervously,  stopping  now  and  then 
beside  the  great  chair  where  his  mother  sat  silent  and 
stricken,  to  put  his  arm  about  her  shoulders,  and 
murmur  to  her  consolingly. 

"When  my  mother  died,"  Madame  Carter  quavered, 
with  her  handkerchief  pressed  to  the  tip  of  her  nose, 
"my  sisters  and  I  wore  black,  and  refused  all  social 
engagements  for  one  year.  We  then,  I  remember 
distinctly,  began  to  wear  white  and  lavender " 

Harriet  smiled  inwardly  at  the  picture  of  Victorian 
mourning  and  compared  it  to  the  mourning  of  to-day, 
as  different  indeed  as  was  the  conception  of  mother- 
hood to-day. 

"I  remember  that  a  cousin  of  my  mother,  Cousin 
Mallie  we  used  to  call  her,  got  in  a  sewing  woman,  and 
all  our  black  things  were  made  right  there  in  the 
house —  '  the  old  lady  was  pursuing,  mournfully, 
when  Nina  broke  in  pettishly: 

"I  don't  see  why!  have  to  wear  black!" 

"Why  should  you?"  Ward  said  with  bitter  scorn. 
"  It's  only  your  mother ! "  Nina  began  to  cry. 

"You  and  I  will  go  down  to  Landmann's  early  to- 
morrow, Nina,"  Harriet  suggested,  "and  we'll  have 
someone  show  us  what  is  simple  and  nice — not  crape, 


HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER  237 

you  know,"  Harriet  said  with  a  glance  at  Richard 
Carter,  "but  black,  for  a  few  months  anyway." 

"I  think  that  would  be  the  least,  Richard,"  his 
mother  approved.  "I  believe  I  will  go  with  you,"  she 
condescended  to  Harriet,  "after  all,  Isabelle  was  my 
daughter-in-law,  and  the  mother  of  my  grandchildren!" 

"And  I  won't  go  to  California  or  Bermuda  or  any- 
where else  unless  Ladybird  comes!"  Nina  burst  out, 
with  a  broken  sob. 

"Nonsense!"  her  father  began  harshly.  Harriet 
said: 

"Bermuda?     Is  there  a  plan  for  Bermuda?" 

"I  suggested  it  for  a  few  weeks,"  Richard  said, 
frowning,  "but  I  don't  propose  to  have  Nina  invite  a 
group  of  friends.  That  isn't  exactly  the  idea." 

"We  could  ask  Mrs.  Tabor,"  Harriet  said,  soothingly; 
"it  is  right  in  the  middle  of  the  season,  and  perhaps  she 
will  feel  she  can  hardly  spare  the  time.  But  I'm  sure 
that  if  she  can ' 

"If  I  ask  her,  she'll  go,"  Nina  said,  in  a  sulky,  con- 
fident undertone. 

Harriet  had  her  doubts,  but  she  did  not  express  them. 
A  month  at  Nassau,  in  the  undiluted  company  of  Nina 
and  her  grandmother, .  was  enough  to  appall  even 
Harriet's  stout  heart. 

The  event  proved  her  right,  for  while  Ida  Tabor  flew 
at  once  to  her  disconsolate  little  friend,  and  assured 
Richard  with  tears  in  her  eyes  that  she  would  do  any- 
thing in  the  world  to  help  him,  she  weakened  when  the 
actual  test  arrived. 

"If  just  you  and  I  and  your  dear  grandmother  were 
going,  dearest  girl,"  she  said  to  Nina,  "then  it  would  be 


238  HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER 

perfect.  But  as  long  as  Miss  Field,  who  is  perfectly 
charming  and  conscientious  and  all  that,  feels  that  she 
must  accompany  us,  why — you  and  I  would  never  be  a 
moment  alone,  sweetheart,  you  know  that!  I  don't 
like  to  think  that  it's  jealousy " 

"Of  course  it's  jealousy,"  Nina  was  pleased  to 
decide,  gloomily.  "Granny  says  that  we  don't  need 
her,  but  Father  just  sticks  to  it  that  she  must  manage 
everything!" 

"I  am  going  to  run  in  every  few  days  and  amuse 
your  father,  and  get  the  news  of  you,"  said  Ida  Tabor. 
"You  don't  think  that  your  father  perhaps  trusts  Miss 
Field  too  far,  do  you?"  she  added,  carelessly.  She  was 
standing  behind  Nina  at  the  dressing  table,  experi- 
menting with  the  girl's  thick,  straight  hair.  "You  look 
like  one  of  the  little  Russian  princesses  with  it  that 
way!"  said  she. 

Nina  was  instantly  diverted. 

"I  had  to  laugh  at  Christine  yesterday,"  she  said. 
"She  said,  'Oh,  Ma'm'selle,  you've  got  enough  for  two 
people  here!'  'Oh,'  I  said,  'then  I  ought  to  pay  you 
double'!"  Nina  laughed.  "And  I  did,  too!"  she 
finished.  For  Nina,  without  ever  being  unselfish,  was 
often  extremely  generous.  Ida  Tabor  smiled  auto- 
matically. 

"I  don't  suppose  your  father  sees  anything  in  Miss 
Field,"  she  submitted  again,  lightly. 

"Oh,  Heavens,  no!"  Nina  said,  studying  herself  in  a 
handglass.  "Christine  says  that  I  ought  to  have  my 
eyebrows  pulled,"  she  added,  thoughtfully.  There  was 
a  rather  steely  look  in  the  eyes  of  her  friend  Ladybird, 
but  she  did  not  see  it.  Her  smile  of  pleasure  gradually 


HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER  239 

gave  place  to  a  pout.  "I'm  going  to  ask  Father  if  we 
need  Miss  Harriet!"  she  said. 

And  that  evening  she  did  indeed  attack  Richard  on 
the  subject,  although  not  as  decidedly  as  she  had 
planned.  He  listened  to  her  interestedly  enough,  with 
.  his  evening  paper  held  ready  for  his  next  glance. 

"Let  you  roam  about  the  country  with  Mrs.  Tabor," 
he  said,  as  the  girl's  faltering  accents  stopped.  "No, 
my  dear,  it's  out  of  the  question!  In  the  first  place, 
she  is  not  the  sort  of  companion  I  would  choose  for  any 
girl,  and  in  the  second  place  I  would  never  know  where 
you  and  your  grandmother  were,  or  what  was  happening 
to  you!  While  Miss  Field  is  in  charge  I  shall  feel 
entirely  safe.  Of  course,  if  Mrs.  Tabor  chooses  to 
invite  herself,  that's  her  affair!" 

"Then  I  don't  want  to  go!"  Nina  stormed.  But  in 
the  end  she  did  go.  The  alternative  of  moping  about 
Crownlands,  and  seeing  her  idol  only  at  intervals,  was 
not  alluring,  and  Mrs.  Tabor  herself  urged  her  to  go. 
Madame  Carter,  Nina,  and  Harriet  duly  sailed,  in  the 
second  week  of  January,  and  Ward  joined  them  almost 
a  month  later,  in  Nassau.  And  here  Harriet  had  the 
brother  and  sister  at  their  best,  free  to  show  the  genuine 
childishness  that  was  in  them,  to  swim  and  picnic  and 
tramp,  and  here  she  indulged  Nina  in  long  talks,  and 
encouraged  her  to  associate  with  the  young  people  she 
met.  Madame  Carter  found  the  island  air  a  help  to 
her  rheumatic  knee,  and  consequently  made  no  protest 
against  a  lengthened  stay.  She  slept,  ate,  and  fek 
better  than  in  the  cold  northern  winter,  and  at  seventy- 
five  these  considerations  were  important. 

Harriet  wrote  once  a  week  to  Richard,  making  a 


240  HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER 

general  report,  and  enclosing  receipted  hotel  and 
miscellaneous  bills.  His  communications  usually  took 
the  form  of  cables,  although  once  or  twice  she  received 
typewritten  letters. 

In  mid-April  they  all  came  home  again,  and  Crown- 
lands,  in  the  year's  first  shy  filming  of  green,  looked 
wonderful  to  Harriet's  homesick  eyes.  With  joyous 
noises  and  confusion  Ward  and  Nina  scattered  their 
possessions  about,  and  the  old  lady  bustled,  chattered, 
and  commented.  Bottomley  and  Pilgrim  were  ap- 
parently enchanted  to  welcome  home  their  one-time 
tormentors,  and  in  the  fresh,  orderly  rooms,  and  the 
scent  of  early  flowers,  and  the  burgeoning  winds  that 
shook  the  blossoms,  there  was  a  wholesome  order  and 
familiarity  delicious  to  the  wanderers. 

Richard  was  to  join  them  at  dinner;  it  had  been 
impossible  for  him  to  meet  them  when  the  boat  arrived, 
but  Fox  had  been  there  and  attended  to  the  formalities. 
It  had  pleased  them  all  to  make  the  occasion  formal  and 
to  dress  accordingly.  Nina  looked  her  prettiest  in  a 
white  silk,  and  the  old  lady  was  magnificent  in  dia- 
monds and  brocade.  Harriet  deliberately  selected  her 
handsomest  gown,  a  severe  black  satin  that  wrapped 
her  slender  body  with  one  superb  and  shining  sweep, 
and  left  her  white  arms  and  firm,  flawless  shoulders 
bare.  The  weeks  of  sunshine  and  fresh  air  had  been 
good  for  her,  as  for  the  others,  and  when  she  was 
dressed,  and  stood  in  the  full  blaze  of  the  lights,  looking 
at  herself,  she  would  not  have  been  human  not  to  be 
pleased.  Her  bright  hair  was  dressed  high,  and  shone 
in  rich  waves  and  curves  against  the  soft,  dusky  fore- 
head, and  above  the  black-fringed,  smoke-blue  eyes. 


HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER  241 

The  firm  young  lines  of  chin  and  throat,  the  swelling 
white  breast  that  met  the  encasing  satin,  the  slippers 
with  their  twinkling  buckles — she  could  not  but  find 
every  detail  pleasing,  and  her  scarlet  mouth,  firmly 
shut,  was  twitched  by  a  sudden  dimple. 

She  glanced  at  the  clock,  went  slowly  to  the  door,  and 
slowly  down  the  big  square  stairway.  Richard  and  his 
children  were  in  the  lower  hall,  and  they  all  glanced  up. 

Down  in  the  soft  glow  of  light  came  Harriet,  smiling 
as  she  slipped  her  left  arm  about  Nina,  and  gave  the 
free  hand  to  Nina's  father.  She  was  apparently  cool 
and  unself-conscious;  inwardly  she  felt  feverish, 
frightened  and  excited  and  happy,  all  at  once.  Richard 
was  in  evening  dress,  too;  he  looked  his  best;  his  dark 
hair  brushed  to  a  shining  crest,  and  his  gray  eyes  full  of 
pleasure. 

"Well,  Miss  Field !"  he  said,  a  little  breathlessly. 

"Well!  Your  vacation  hasn't  done  you  any  harm!" 

"We  had  to  make  an  occasion  of  our  coming  home!" 
Harriet  said,  with  a  nervous  laugh,  trying  not  to  see 
the  admiration  in  his  eyes. 

"I  must  say  I  like  the  gown,"  Richard  said,  simply. 
It  was  impossible  not  to  speak  of  it,  and  of  her;  they 
were  all  staring  at  her. 

"You  look  wonderful!"  Nina  said. 

"Why,  you  saw  this  gown  at  Nassau,"  Harriet 
protested. 

"Louise — or  whoever  she  was  of  Prussia,  or  whatever 
you  call  it,  turned  in  the  family  vault  when  you  walked 
down  those  stairs!"  Ward  said.  "Oo-oo — caught  you 
under  the  mistletoe — oo-oo,  you  would!"  he  added, 
with  an  effort  to  envelop  her  in  his  embrace. 


242  HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER 

"Ward,  behave  yourself!"  Harriet  said,  evading 
him,  and  walking  toward  the  dining  room  with  his 
grandmother,  who  came  downstairs  in  her  turn,  and 
joined  them.  "No  pain  in  the  knee?"  Richard  heard 
her  say,  solicitously. 

"Not  a  bit!"  the  old  lady  said,  eagerly.  "Why,  my 
dear,"  she  added,  grandly,  "there's  no  rheumatism  in 
our  family!  Not  a  bit!  It  was  just  that  fall  I  had, 
ten  years  ago,  that  settled  there,  that  was  all!  Im- 
mediately after  that  fall " 

Harriet  had  heard  of  the  fall  before.  She  had  heard 
of  it  one  hundred  times.  But  she  listened  attentively. 
She  had  an  aside  for  Bottomley,  she  drew  Nina  into  the 
conversation,  she  was  most  at  ease  with  Ward,  teasing 
him,  drawing  him  out. 

Richard  Carter  watched  her,  the  incarnation  of 
young  and  beautiful  womanhood.  Clever  he  knew  her 
to  be,  capable  and  conscientious,  but  to-night  she  was 
in  a  new  role.  He  liked  to  see  her  there  at  the  other 
end  of  the  table;  he  realized  that  she  was  the  centre  of 
things,  here  in  his  house,  and  that  he  had  missed  her. 

After  dinner  it  chanced  that  Bottomley  called  her  to 
the  telephone,  and  that  a  moment  later  she  passed  the 
call  on  to  Richard. 

"It's  Mr.  Gardiner,  Mr.  Carter.  He  didn't  know 
that  you  were  here,  but  he  would  rather  speak  to  you," 
Harriet  said.  Richard  went  to  the  telephone,  and  as 
she  moved  to  make  room  for  him,  and  gave  him  the 
receiver,  he  had  a  sudden  breath  of  the  sweetness  and 
freshness  of  her,  of  hair  and  young  firm  skin,  of  the 
rustling  satin  gown,  and  the  little  handkerchief  that  she 
dropped,  and  that  he  picked  up  for  her.  He  smiled  as 


HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER  243 

he  gave  it,  and  flushed  inexplicably,  and  his  first  few 
words  to  the  bewildered  Gardiner  were  a  little  shaken 
and  breathless.  But  Richard  was  quite  himself  again 
an  hour  or  two  later,  when  he  sent  for  Miss  Field,  and 
she  came  into  the  library. 

"I  needn't  say  that  I'm  entirely  pleased  with  the  way 
matters  have  gone,  Harriet,"  said  Richard,  when  she 
had  seated  herself  on  the  opposite  side  of  his  big,  flat 
desk,  and  locking  her  white  hands  on  the  shining 
surface,  had  fixed  her  magnificent  eyes  on  him.  "Nina 
seems  in  fine  shape,  and  I  have  never  seen  my  mother 
better.  You  seem  to  have  a  genius  for  managing  the 
Carters.  Ward,  of  course,  is  the  real  problem  now — I 
wish  the  boy  might  have  made  his  degree;  but  it  wasn't 
to  be  expected  perhaps.  He's  clever,  but  his  heart 
wasn't  in  it;  he  never  made  the  slightest  effort  to  get 
through.  I'm  seriously  considering  this  offer  from 
Gardiner;  he's  got  to  take  his  boy  out  to  Nevada  for 
his  health.  Ward  wants  to  go,  and  would  very  prob- 
ably like  it  when  he  got  there.  Gardiner's  brother  is  a 
magnificent  fellow,  'P.  J.,'  they  call  him;  he  and  his 
cattle  are  known  all  over  that  part  of  the  country. 
He's  got  two  or  three  pretty  girls — I  hope  Ward  will 
try  it,  anyhow!  So  that  leaves  Nina,  who  is  safe  enough 
with  you,  and  my  mother,  who  seems  perfectly  well  and 
happy.  Meanwhile,  while  you've  been  gone,  we've 
gotten  the  Brazilian  company  well  started,  so  that  I 
shall  have  a  little  more  freedom  than  I've  had  for 
years." 

"You  look  as  if  you  needed  it,"  Harriet  observed. 

"You  look  wonderful,"  Richard  returned,  simply. 
"  Wonderful !  Is  that  a  new  gown  ? " 


244  HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER 

"Well,  I  had  it  made  last  November  just  before  I 
went  away.  Mrs.  Carter  gave  me  the  material  a 
year  ago."  Harriet  glanced  down  at  herself  and 
smiled. 

"You  might  wear  pearls — or  something — with  it," 
Richard  said.  "Do  you  like  pearls?" 

It  was  astonishing  to  see  the  colour  come  up  in  her 
dusky  skin;  her  eyes  met  his  almost  pleadingly. 

"Why — I  never  thought!"  she  said,  in  some  con- 
fusion. 

"I  suppose  a  man  may  ask  his  wife  if  she  likes 
pearls?"  Richard  said,  impelled  by  some  feeling  he  did 
not  define.  He  had  leaned  back  in  his  chair,  and  half- 
closed  his  eyes,  as  he  studied  her. 

"Oh — please!"  Harriet  said  in  an  agony.  She 
gave  a  horrified  glance  about,  but  the  library  was 
closed  and  silent.  "Someone  might  hear  you!"  she 
whispered.  And  a  moment  later  she  rose  to  her  feet, 
and  eyed  him  quietly.  "Was  that  all,  Mr.  Carter?" 
she  asked.  It  was  Richard's  turn  to  look  a  trifle  con- 
fused. 

"That's  all — my  dear!"  he  said,  obediently.  The 
term  made  her  flush  again.  He  was  still  smiling  when 
she  closed  the  door. 


CHAPTER  XVII 

IT  WAS  the  gayest  spring  that  Harriet  had  ever 
known  at  Crownlands,  for  even  at  her  best,  Isabelle  had 
been  socially  an  individualist,  devoting  herself  to  one 
man  at  a  time,  and  to  nobody  else,  and  the  whole  family 
had  necessarily  accepted  Isabelle's  attitude.  Richard 
had  been  too  busy  to  notice  or  protest,  the  old  lady 
helpless,  and  Nina  a  child. 

But  now  there  was  a  beautiful  and  gracious  woman 
in  Isabelle's  place,  and  long  before  the  world  knew  that 
Harriet  Field  was  really  Harriet  Carter,  there  was  a 
very  decided  change  in  the  social  atmosphere.  Nina 
would  be  eighteen  in  June,  and  affairs  for  Nina  and  her 
friends  began  to  assume  a  more  formal  air.  Ward,  who 
seemed  anxious  to  placate  his  father,  and  convince  him 
of  his  genuine  reform,  was  almost  always  at  home,  and 
Madame  Carter  was  willing  to  accept  the  comfort  and 
amusement  that  Harriet's  return  brought  to  the  house, 
and  rarely  raised  an  issue  with  the  triumphant  secretary. 
And,  more  strange  than  all,  Richard  began  to  bring  his 
friends  to  the  house;  he  was  proud  of  his  smoothly 
running  establishment,  and  proud  of  the  charming 
woman  who  neither  flirted  with  nor  ignored  the  men  he 
brought  home.  They  were  plain  men  sometimes, 
business  associates  who  might  have  been  ill  at  ease  at 
Crownlands,  and  voiceless  at  the  dinner  table.  But 
Harriet  drew  them  out,  and  seemed  to  have  some 

245 


246  HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER 

conversational  divining  rod  by  which  she  touched  with 
unfailing  instinct  upon  the  topic  of  each  in  turn. 

Always  beautiful  and  always  busy,  constantly  in 
demand  on  all  sides,  she  went  about  his  house  like  a 
smiling  worker  of  miracles,  and  Richard  watched  her. 
When  she  went  home  to  her  sister  for  a  day  or  two  he 
missed  her  strangely,  and  wandered  about  the  empty 
rooms  with  a  desolate  sense  of  loss. 

She  was  presently  back,  and  amused  the  young 
people  at  the  dinner  table  with  a  spirited  account  of  her 
sister's  move  into  a  new  house — "really  an  old  house," 
that  she  and  her  family  had  been  watching  for  years. 
It  had  been  auctioned,  forfeited  by  the  purchaser,  it  had 
figured  in  a  lawsuit,  and  now  at  last  it  was  in  the 
possession  of  the  delighted  Davenports.  And  the 
move — with  the  baby  carrying  his  puppy,  and  Pip 
the  goldfish,  and  the  girls  wheeling  the  old  baby- 
carriage  full  of  their  treasures,  and  Linda  whitening 
her  hands  with  a  cut  lemon,  as  she  walked  the 

seven  short  blocks !  Harriet  made  them  see  it 

all,  and  Richard  laughed  with  the  children.  His  mother, 
always  reminiscent,  recalled  a  move  in  his  own  third 
year,  when  he  had  tasted  furniture  polish,  and  made 
himself  ill. 

Nina  and  Amy  and  Ward  had  rushed  from  the  dinner 
table  to  an  early  dance  at  the  club,  and  Richard,  after  a 
talk  with  his  mother  on  the  terrace,  had  wandered 
about  with  a  vague  hope  of  finding  Harriet  somewhere 
with  her  book.  But  she  was  not  downstairs. 

He  went  back,  and  presently  accompanied  his  mother 
to  her  door.  The  old  lady  stopped  outside  of  Nina's  open 
door,  from  which  a  subdued  light  streamed. 


HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER  247 

"Oh,  Miss  Field "  said  Madame  Carter. 

"Yes,  Madame  Carter!"  The  rich,  ready  voice 
responded  instantly.  Richard  hoped  she  would  come 
to  the  door,  but  his  mother's  message  was  delivered  too 
quickly  to  make  it  necessary. 

"You're  waiting  up  for  Nina?" 

"Oh,  yes,  Madame  Carter!"  Harriet  answered. 
The  two  exchanged  good-nights;  Richard  loitered  into 
his  mother's  room,  left  her  in  her  maid's  hands,  and 
went  back  into  the  dimly  lighted,  spacious  upper  hall. 
He  felt  oddly  stirred;  there  were  letters  downstairs,  his 
usual  books  and  amusements,  but  he  felt  curiously 
impelled  to  try  for  one  more  word  with  Miss  Field. 

He  opened  the  door  of  Nina's  room,  and  went  in, 
and  knocked  on  the  half-open  door  within  that  con- 
nected it  with  Harriet's  room. 

"Come  in.  Is  it  you,  Pilgrim?"  the  pleasant,  quiet 
voice  said.  Richard  stepped  to  the  doorway. 

Harriet,  seated  in  a  square  basket  chair,  under  the 
soft  flood  of  light  from  a  basket-shaded  lamp,  rose 
precipitately,  and  stood  looking  at  him  with  widened 
eyes  and  parted  lips,  without  speaking.  She  was 
plainly  frightened,  though  she  made  herself  smile. 
She  wore  a  scant,  long-sleeved  garment  of  a  deep, 
oriental  blue,  that  covered  her  from  her  white  throat  to 
her  feet,  and  yet  that  was  obviously  only  for  bedroom 
wear,  and  to  which  she  gave  a  quick,  apologetic  glance, 
as  the  man  came  in.  He  noticed  that  in  this  mellow 
light  her  blue  eyes  seemed  to  communicate  a  blue 
shadow  to  their  neighbourhood,  brows  and  lids,  and  the 
clean  arch  in  which  they  were  set,  all  wore  the  same 
shadowy  blueness.  The  beautiful  room  was  full  of 


248  HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER 

shadows;  at  the  wide-open  windows  thin  curtains 
stirred  in  the  cool  night  air. 

"Frighten  you?"  Richard  said. 

"  Is  there  something ? "  Her  eyes  were  those  of  a 

deer  that  is  afraid  to  turn. 

"Why,  I  wanted  to  suggest  that  we  tell  our  little 
piece  of  news  to  the  family,"  Richard  suggested,  after  a 
momentary  search  for  a  suitable  subject.  "I  came 
very  close  to  telling  my  mother,  just  now.  Is  there  any 
good  reason  for  further  delay?" 

"Why,  no,  I  don't — I  don't  suppose  there  is!" 
Harriet  stammered. 

"You  see,  my  mother  had  left  me  in  no  doubt  of  her 
intentions  with  Mrs.  Tabor,"  Richard  said,  smiling. 
"I'll  give  Mrs.  Tabor  credit  for  being  as  innocent  as  I 
am  in  the  matter,"  he  added,  simply.  "But  there's  a 
plan  for  a  Montreal  trip — I  believe  Ida  arrives  for  a 
week  to-morrow,  and  so  on.  I  should  be  very  glad  to 
let  the  world  know  that — my  arrangements — in  the 
line,  are  already  made.  It  will  be  fairer  to  you,  too,  I 
think.  Gardiner  asked  me  last  night  if  the  coast  was 
clear — Ward  asked  me  if  I  thought  there  was  any  use 
in  his  trying  again " 

"  There  will  be  talk,"  said  Harriet  with  distaste,  as 
he  paused. 

"I  suppose  so,"  he  answered,  simply.  "But  what  we 
do  is  our  own  affair,  after  all.  I  shall  explain  to  my 
mother  that  for  us  both  it  seemed  a  practical  and  a — 
well,  not  unpleasant  solution.  There  need  be  no 
change  here,  but  you  will  simply  have  a  more  assured 
position " 

She  had  been  watching  him,  with  all  June  in  her  face. 


HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER  249 

But  as  he  went  on  the  colour  slowly  drained  away,  and 
about  her  beautiful  eyes  a  look  of  strain  and  even  of 
something  like  shame  gradually  deepened.  When  she 
spoke,  it  was  as  if  the  muscles  of  her  throat  were  con- 
stricted. 

"Yes,  I  see.  Certainly,  I  see.  We  will  have  to  let 
them  talk.  This  is — simply  the  best  arrangement 
possible  under  the  circumstances!" 

"It  is  an  arrangement  that  a  man  perhaps  has  no 
right  to  ask  of  a  woman,"  Richard  said.  "Love  means 
a  great  deal  in  a  girl's  life,  and  I  suppose  there  is  nothing 
else  that  makes  up  for  the  lack  of  it.  But  you  are  not 
an  ordinary  woman,  and  I  assure  you  that  in  every  way 
that  I  can  I  mean  to  prove  to  you  how  deeply  I  appreci- 
ate what  you  are  doing  for  us  all." 

"Thank  you!"  Harriet  said,  almost  inaudibly. 

"Simply  change  your  name  on  your  checks,"  Richard 
said,  thoughtfully.  "I  shall  have  Fox  step  into  the 
bank  with  the  authenticated  signature.  And  if  there 
is  anything  else,  use  your  own  judgment.  Perhaps,  if 
I  tell  my  mother,  you  would  like  to  write  to  certain 

friends ?  You  can  continue  to  draw  on  the  Corn 

Exchange,  that's  simplest,  and  I  hope  you'll  remember 
that  you  have  a  large  personal  credit  there,"  he  added, 
with  a  smile.  "It  occurred  to  me  to-night  that  you — 
you  mustn't  let  your  sister  worry  about  that  new  house. 
If  you  want  your  own  car — 

"Oh,  good  heavens,  Mr.  Carter!"  Harriet  said,  suf- 
focating. 

"Ask  me  anything  that  puzzles  you,"  the  man  said. 
And  with  a  brief  good-night  he  was  gone.  Harriet, 
who  had  dropped  back  into  her  chair,  sat  absolutely 


250  HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER 

motionless  for  a  long,  long  time.  Her  eyes  "were  fixed 
on  space;  she  hardly  breathed;  it  almost  seemed  as  if 
her  heart  was  stopped. 

Richard  went  downstairs,  surprised  to  feel  still 
vaguely  unsatisfied.  He  had  had  his  word  witri  Harriet, 
had  said  indeed  much  that  he  had  not  expected  to  say. 
However,  it  was  much  better  to  let  the  world  know  their 
relationship;  he  was  perfectly  satisfied  to  have  it  so. 
But  still,  as  he  settled  himself  to  an  hour's  reading,  the 
plaguing  little  impulse  persisted.  He  would  like  to 
go  upstairs  again;  he  missed  her  companionship. 

There  was  something  very  appealing  about  this 
woman,  thought  Richard,  suddenly  closing  his  book. 
Her  beauty,  her  silences,  her  complete  subjugation  of 
her  own  interests  to  his,  he  found  strangely  fascinating. 
She  had  looked  extremely  beautiful  in  that  long,  dark 
blue  bedroom  gown,  reading  Shakespeare.  He  won- 
dered why  she  read  Shakespeare. 

"By  George,  she  has  made  a  most  interesting  woman 
of  herself!"  Richard  decided,  opening  his  book  again. 
"She  ought  to  be  right  in  the  middle  of  things,  that 
girl!" 

He  was  still  reading  when  Nina  and  Amy  came  in, 
and  yawned  him  good-nights  from  the  library  door- 
way. He  heard  them  go  upstairs,  heard  a  burst  of 
laughter  and  nonsense,  and  then  Harriet's  rich  voice, 
and  then  the  closing  door.  Then  there  was  silence. 
Richard  discovered  that  he  was  sleepy,  and  went 
upstairs,  too. 

A  day  or  two  later  Madame  Carter  came  out  to  the 
terrace  at  eleven  o'clock,  beautifully  groomed  and 


HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER  251 

gowned,  and  with  an  imperative  hand  arrested  Harriet, 
who  was  tumbled  and  sunburned  from  the  tennis  court 
and  was  going  toward  the  house. 

"Just  a  moment,  Miss  Field,"  said  she,  magnifi- 
cently. Harriet  obediently  stood  still,  and  watched 
Madame  Carter's  magnificence  settle  itself  slowly  in  a 
basket  chair.  The  old  lady  freed  an  eyeglass  ribbon 
deliberately,  straightened  a  ruffle,  laid  her  magazine 
beside  her  on  a  table.  "There  was  a  little  matter  of 
which  I  wished  to  speak  to  you,"  she  said,  suavely, 
bringing  her  distant  glance  to  rest  dispassionately  for  a 
moment  upon  Harriet's  face. 

Harriet  waited,  amused,  annoyed,  impatient. 

"I  understand,"  Madame  Carter  said,  "that 
you  and  my  son — for  some  reason  best  known  to  your- 
selves— have  entered  into  a  secret  marriage?" 

"Your  first  object,  my  dear,  is  not  to  antagonize  his 
mother!"  Harriet  reminded  herself.  Aloud  she  said 
mildly:  "You  have  no  reason  to  disbelieve  it,  have 

5  " 

your 

"No  reason  to  disbelieve  my  son!"  his  mother  echoed, 
scandalized.  "Why  should  I  have!  Mr.  Carter  is 
the  soul  of  honour — absolutely  the  soul.  Upon  my  word, 
I  don't  understand  you!" 

"I  said  you  have  no  reason  to  disbelieve  him,"  Har- 
riet repeated.  "You  said  that  you  understood  that 
we  had  been  married.  It  is  true!" 

And  she  looked  off  toward  the  river  with  an  expression 
as  composed  as  that  of  Madame  Carter  herself. 

"I  suppose  you  know  that  old  saying:  'A  secret  bride 
has  a  secret  to  hide!'"  the  older  woman  pursued,  pleas- 
antlv- 


S52  HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER 

"I  never  heard  it.  I  did  not  play  much  with  the 
children  of  the  neighbourhood  when  I  was  a  child," 
Harriet  answered.  "My  father  was  very  anxious 
to  protect  us  from  picking  up  expressions  of  that  sort!" 

There  was  a  silence.  Harriet,  beginning  to  be 
ashamed  of  herself,  did  not  look  at  her  companion. 

"A  girl  of  your  age  has  a  great  deal  of  confidence 
when  she  marries  into  a  family  like  mine,"  the  old  lady 
said,  presently,  in  a  tone  that  trembled  a  little.  "My 
son  is  a  rich  man — he  is  a  prominent  man.  He  has 
used  his  own  judgment,  of  course.  But  I  confess  that 
in  your  place  I  should  not  carry  myself  with  quite  so 
much  an  air  of — triumph!  It  seems  to  me " 

Harriet  had  had  time  to  reflect  that  such  an  opening 
would  certainly  lead  to  tears  and  hysteria  now,  and 
might  easily  begin  an  estrangement  that  would  sadden 
and  disappoint  Richard.  A  few  more  such  exchanges, 
and  his  mother  would  retire  worsted  to  her  room,  might 
possibly  leave  his  house,  and  punish  Harriet  cruelly 
through  him.  She  determinedly  regained  her  calm,  and 
taking  the  chair  next  to  the  enraged  old  lady,  quietly 
interrupted  the  flow  of  her  angry  words. 

"I  hope  I  have  shown  no  air  of  triumph,  Madame 
Carter,"  Harriet  said.  "You  yourself — and  most 
wisely! — pointed  out  to  us  a  few  months  ago  that  the 
arrangement  here  was  unconventional " 

"Everyone  was  talking,  if  you  mind  that!"  the  old 
lady  snapped.  But  she  was  slightly  mollified,  none-the- 
less.  "  But  upon  my  word,  you'd  think  marrying  into 
the  family  was  something  to  be  done  every  day- 
she  was  beginning  again,  when  Harriet  interrupted 
again. 


HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER  253 

"No — no,"  she  said,  soothingly,  conceding  the  last 
words  an  amused  smile  that  itself  rather  helped  to 
placate  her  companion.  "It  is,  of  course,  the  most  seri- 
ous step  of  my  life!  But  the  secrecy — as  of  course 
you  will  appreciate — was  because  there  has  been  so 
much  terrible  notoriety  this  year!  Why,  Mr.  Carter 
tells  me  that  never  in  the  history  of  all  the  Car- 
ters- 

This  fortunate  lead  was  enough.  Madame  Carter 
launched  forth  superbly  upon  a  description  of  the  usual 
Carter  weddings,  the  ceremony,  the  state.  In  perhaps 
twenty  minutes  she  was  blandly  patronizing  Harriet, 
giving  her  encouraging  little  taps  with  her  eyeglasses, 
warning  her  of  mistakes  that  Isabelle  had  made  with 
Richard.  Harriet  knew  that  before  three  days  were 
over  her  terrible  mother-in-law  would  be  telling  the 
world  just  how  wise,  under  the  trying  circumstances, 
the  whole  thing  was,  and  just  how  clearly  she  had  fore- 
seen it.  She  was  still  listening  respectfully,  if  a  trifle 
confusedly,  when  Ward  bounded  from  the  house,  and 
gave  her  an  effusive  embrace. 

"Hello,  Mamma!"  Ward  said.  Harriet  laughed, 
as  she  pushed  away  the  filial  arm.  Hardly  knowing 
what  she  said  or  did  she  made  her  way  to  the  house,  and 
up  to  her  own  room. 

But  here,  in  Nina's  room,  were  Nina  and  Mrs.  Tabor, 
and  from  their  eyes,  as  she  came  in,  she  knew  that  they 
knew.  Nina  got  up,  and  came  forward  with  a  sort  of 
sulky  graciousness. 

"I  hope  you'll  be  very  happy,  Miss  Harriet — I  suppose 
I  oughtn't  to  call  you  Miss  Harriet  any  more,"  Nina 
said,  with  an  effort  to  smile  that  Harriet  thought  quite 


254  HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER 

ghastly.  She  gave  Harriet  one  of  her  big  hands,  and 
hesitated  over  a  kiss.  But  they  did  not  kiss  each  other. 
IdaTaborwatched  them  with  the  half-closed  eyes  of  a  cat. 

"Confess  you  took  my  breath  away/'  she  said, frankly, 
"because  it  doesn't  seem  the  sort  of  thing  that  Dick 
Carter  does!  Always  knew  he  idolized  Isabelle,  poor 
girl,  and  never  dreamed  he'd  put  any  one  in  her  place! 
Of  course,  Dick's  a  rich  man,  and  he's  the  dearest  fellow 
in  the  world,  at  that,  but  knowing,  as  I  do  know — 
for  I've  known  him  since  we  were  kiddies — exactly  what 
a  firebrand  Dick  always  has  been — mad  as  a  hatter 
when  he  was  in  love,  and  consequently  this  talk  of  a 
sensible  arrangement — 

She  had  a  quick,  vivacious  way  of  speaking,  this  pretty 
little  angry  and  disappointed  woman,  that  often  carried 
an  offensive  very  successfully.  As  she  spoke,  in  an  in- 
nocent voice,  she  glanced  in  and  out  of  the  magazine 
she  had  caught  up,  and  was  apparently  unconscious 
of  Harriet's  blazing  cheeks  and  darkening  eyes.  But 
now  Harriet  interrupted  her. 

"I  don't  quite  see  the  point,  Mrs.  Tabor,"  Harriet 
said,  bravely  and  deliberately,  "you  speak  of  Mr.  Carter's 
being  a  rich  man,  and  of  his  love  for  his  wife,  and  his 
having  been  a  fiery  young  man.  What  has  that  to  do 
with  me?  I  was  here  in  his  house  as  his  daughter's 
companion 

"As  far  as  being  a  companion  to  me  was  concerned," 
Nina  interpolated,  rapidly,  in  an  airy  undertone,  and 
with  a  toss  of  her  head.  But  Harriet  suppressed  her 
with  a  glance. 

" — that  position  I  could  not  keep,"  she  pursued, 
"but  for  Ward's  sake  and  Nina's  there  had  to  be  some 


HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER  255 

social  life.  My  birth,"  said  Harriet,  steadily,  "is  quite 
the  equal  of  theirs;  I  was  well  able  to  fill  that  place. 
Mr.  Carter  took  the  step  that  made  it  possible.  That's 
all!" 

There  was  a  silence  when  she  finished  speaking.  Ida 
Tabor  was  outfaced,  and  she  knew  it.  Her  cheeks 
burned  scarlet,  and  she  was  able  to  gasp  only  the 
feeblest  response. 

"Thank  you  for  your  kind  explanation!"  she  said, 
somewhat  breathless,  and  with  a  bow.  Nina,  giving 
Harriet  a  resentful  glance,  went  over  to  put  her  arm  about 
her  friend,  who  had  risen,  and  was  facing  Harriet. 

"It  need  make  no  difference  with  us,  Ladybird!" 
Nina  said  in  passionate  loyalty. 

"Why,  of  course  not,"  Harriet  hastened  to  assure 
them.  "Why  should  it?  It  has  been  just  as  true  since 
December,  only  you  didn't  know  it!" 

"Thank  you!"  Mrs.  Tabor  said  again,  with  another 
twitch  of  countenance  intended  for  a  smile. 

"Will  you  want  both  these  rooms  now?"  Nina  said, 
insolently.  "I  don't  want  to  be  in  your  way!" 

"Be  careful,  Nina!"  Harriet  said  with  ominous 
calmness.  And  going  into  her  own  room  she  added,  in 
her  usual  quiet  manner,  "There  will  be  no  changes,  dear !" 

She  realized  that  her  'heart  was  beating  fast  with 
anger,  but  it  died  down  rapidly,  and  she  consoled  herself 
with  some  prophecies  that  the  next  few  days  were  to 
justify  to  the  fullest  extent.  Nina's  inseparable  Lady- 
bird would  find  little  to  interest  her  in  Crownlands  now, 
Harriet  suspected,  and  they  would  not  long  be  troubled 
by  her  company.  She  smiled  as  she  heard  Nina  and  Ida 
in  the  next  room. 


256  HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER 

"Put  on  your  yellow  gown,  sweetheart,"  Ida  said. 
"We're  going  to  the  Bellamys'  after  lunch." 

"Oh,  I  don't  feel  like  going  anywhere!"  Nina  said,  pa- 
thetically. "Would  you  just  as  soon  stay  here — and 
just  read  and  talk,  and  fool  around  as  we  did  yester- 
day?" 

"Just  as  soon  do  anything!"  But  there  was  a  tiny 
edge  to  Ladybird's  tone  that  had  not  been  there  yester- 
day. "Only,  dearest  girl,"  she  added,  lightly,  "we're 
expected!" 

For  answer  Nina  only  gave  her  rich,  mischievous 
laugh,  and  Harriet  knew  that  she  was  embracing  her 
friend. 

"But  a  lot  you  and  I  care  for  that,  don't  we?  We'll 
get  into  wrappers  and  be  comfortable.  I'll  have 
Bottomley  simply  telephone  after  lunch,  and  say  that 
we  are  unexpectedly  detained.  I  can't  get  over  it," 
Nina  said,  luxuriating  in  surprise.  Her  voice  sank  to 
speculation,  and  the  two  murmured  awhile.  Then 
Harriet  heard  Ida  return  the  attack.  "But  about  the 
Bellamys,  dear,"  and  smiled  a  little  sadly,  to  think 
of  the  swiftness  with  which,  to  calculating  Mrs.  Tabor, 
the  Carter  stock  was  declining,  and  the  Bellamy  market 
looking  up. 

"That  crazy  man  who — you  said — admired  me  last 
night,"  Nina  was  presently  saying,  "tell  me  again  what 
he  said.  I  don't  see  how  he  could  have  said  I  was 
picturesque,  for  there's  nothing  picturesque  about  that 
old  blue  rag.  I  don't  know,  though,  it's  always  been 
awfully  smart.  But  I'll  tell  you  honestly,  Ladybird, 
I'd  rather  be  [picturesque  than  almost  anything  else." 

"You're  certainly  that!"  said  Ida's  bored  voice. 


HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER  257 

"Well,  if  you  say  so,  I'll  believe  you!"  Nina  said. 
Harriet  knew  that  they  had  been  aware  of  her  nearness, 
but  now  she  very  deliberately  closed  the  door. 

At  luncheon  everything  was  exactly  as  usual;  Richard 
had  gone  to  the  city,  not  to  return  for  a  night  or  two, 
and  several  social  engagements  distracted  the  young 
people  from  the  contemplation  of  their  father's  affairs. 

Harriet  had  not  dared  to  hope  that  they  would  accept 
the  situation  so  quietly,  or  that  the  world  would.  There 
were  callers  on  the  terrace  every  afternoon,  there  were 
pleasant  congratulations  and  good  wishes,  there  were 
a  few  paragraphs  in  the  social  weeklies.  Richard  had 
for  years  been  too  busy  for  mere  entertaining,  and  the 
dinner  parties  and  luncheons  to  the  new  Mrs.  Carter, 
it  was  generally  felt,  must  wait  until  next  season. 

Meanwhile,  the  speculating  world  saw  her  going 
quietly  about  the  house,  advising  Nina,  conferring  with 
the  domestic  staff,  laughing  with  Ward.  She  immedi- 
ately formed  a  habit  of  going  into  the  old  lady's  room 
every  morning:  Madame  Carter  had  quite  accepted  her 
as  a  member  of  the  great  house  of  Carter  now,  and  came 
to  depend  upon  the  half-hour  of  morn.ng  gossip.  The 
world  saw  her  in  a  box  at  the  theatre,  with  the  young 
Carters,  saw  that  Richard  presently  joined  them,  and 
laughed,  in  the  shadowy  back  of  the  box,  at  something 
his  beautiful  new  wife  said  to  him  over  her  shoulder. 
The  world  was  obliged  to  decide  that  the  little  secretary 
took  her  promotion  very  coolly,  that  there  was  some- 
thing queer  about  it. 

But  inwardly  the  little  secretary  was  thrilled  to  her 
heart's  core.  Even  to  glance  at  the  gold  ring  on  her 
finger  made  Harriet  feel  as  if  a  happiness  almost  shame- 


258  HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER 

ful  was  bared  to  view.  Her  new  position,  modestly  as 
she  filled  it,  was  yet  a  high  position.  She  saw  Richard's 
growing  affection  and  trust,  if  he  did  not.  She  could 
afford  to  wait. 

She  visited  Linda,  almost  afraid  to  show  new  gowns 
and  new  generosity,  almost  afraid  of  the  constant  "Mrs. 
Carter/' 

"They'll  be  ruined!"  Linda  laughed,  of  the  children's 
summer  gowns  and  the  camera  and  wrist  watch  that 
transported  Julia  and  Josephine  to  Paradise.  This 
rustling  and  perfumed  Harriet,  with  the  flowered  little 
French  hat,  and  the  filmy  little  odd  gowns,  was  almost 
bewildering. 

Decorously  having  tea  on  the  terrace  in  the  June 
afternoons,  knowing  herself  the  centre  of  interest, 
Harriet's  heart  sang  with  a  wild  inward  delight.  She 
smiled;  she  could  afford  the  friendliest  interest  for  every- 
one's affairs.  When  her  own  were  touched,  there  was  a 
youthful  flushing,  a  deprecatory  smile.  But  she  took 
no  one  into  her  confidence. 

"But  when  are  you  and  Dick  Carter  going  to  dine 
with  us?"  Mary  Putnam  said,  one  afternoon,  at  tea. 
Madame  Carter,  whose  Victorian  ideal  of  romance  was 
not  at  all  dissatisfied  with  the  idea  of  the  employer 
marrying  his  daughter's  beautiful  governess,  smiled 
significantly. 

"They're  very  odd  lovers,  my  dear,"  she  said  to  Mary 
with  an  eloquent  glance.  Mary  laughed,  and  looked 
at  Harriet,  whose  face  was  suddenly  crimson,  though 
she  tried  to  laugh,  too.  The  visitor,  with  instant  kind- 
ness, covered  the  little  break. 

"Whenever  they're  ready,  they're  going  to  dine  with 


HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER  259 

me!"  she  said,  patting  Harriet's  hand  with  real  affec- 
tion and  understanding.  The  arrival  of  a  group  from 
the  tennis  court,  Nina,  Ida,  Ward,  Francesca  Jay,  and 
their  friends,  changed  the  subject  immediately,  the 
old  lady  was  distracted,  and  Harriet  busy.  But  Mary 
was  free  to  reflect.  She  had  the  eyes  of  a  contented 
woman,  freed  from  her  own  problem  for  those  of  others. 
"And  Harriet  is  certainly  mad  about  Richard,"  Mary 
mused. 

But  with  the  rest  of  the  world  she  had  to  decide  that 
there  was  something  in  the  affair  that  she  did  not  under- 
stand. 

When  everyone  else  had  gone  from  the  terrace,  and 
the  late  afternoon  light  was  throwing  clear  shadows 
across  the  warm  red  bricks,  Nina  and  Ida  Tabor  re- 
mained, talking.  Nina  had  seated  herself  on  the  arm 
of  her  friend's  chair,  and  was  chattering  away  in  happy 
ignorance  of  the  fact  that  the  older  woman  was  seething 
within.  Nina  saw  no  reason  for  jealousy  because 
Harriet  had  just  had  an  hour's  petting  from  everyone, 
had  dominated  the  scene  in  her  striped  blue  muslin, 
had  finally  sauntered  to  the  house  between  no  more  im- 
portant persons  than  Granny  and  Ward. 

But  to  Ida  it  was  insufferable,  and  she  could  only  re- 
venge herself  upon  her  innocent  admirer. 

"And  now  we  positively  must  go  in,  Nina!"  she  said. 
"  We've  wasted  this  whole  afternoon ! "  And  she  added, 
of  the  embracing  arm:  "Don't!  It's  too  hot." 

"Is  playing  tennis  and  talking  with  me  wasting  an 
afternoon,  Ladybird?"  Nina  asked,  archly. 

"You  know  I   don't  mean  that!"  Mrs.  Tabor  said, 


260  HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER 

impatiently,  if  fondly,  freeing  herself.  "But  I  have  to 
get  packed  if  I'm  going  to  the  Jays'!" 

"But  you're  not  going  to  the  Jays'!"  Nina  said  in 
soft,  sweet,  confident  reminder. 

"But  I  must,  darling!" 

"Not  if  I  ask  you  not  to!"  Nina  persisted. 

"Truly  I  must,"  Mrs.  Tabor  said,  wearily. 

"No,  you  mustn't!" 

"But,  dearest,  I  truly  have  to — 

"But,  Ladybird,"  Nina  laughed,  happily,  "I  sent 
them  a  message  this  afternoon  that  you  were  staying 
with  me!  So  now,"  she  finished,  triumphantly,  "that's 
settled!  And  we'll  go  to  bed  early,  with  books,  and 
talk,  and  maybe  creep  down  for  something  to  eat 
about  eleven,  as  we  did  that  other  night— 

"Nina,"  Mrs.  Tabor  said,  in  a  new  voice,  interrupting 
her,  "you  didn't  telephone  Mrs.  Jay,  did  you?" 

"Indeed  I  did!"  Nina  was  still  smiling  over  the 
thought  of  her  midnight  raid  on  the  pantry  with  a  flat- 
tering and  laughing  and  girlish  Ladybird,  a  Ladybird 
who  had  simply  "never  gotten  over"  that  chance  en- 
counter with  Father  in  the  upper  hall,  and  who  had 
talked  of  it,  and  of  their  slippered  feet  and  kimonos, 
through  hours  of  delicious  giggling  and  embarrassment. 

"Well,  then,  you  were  extremely  impertinent  and  of- 
ficious," said  a  new  voice,  that  Nina  hardly  recognized. 

Poor  Nina!  Harriet  found  her  sobbing  on  her  bed, 
half  an  hour  later,  and  took  it  for  a  sign  that  the  wound 
would  cure,  that  Nina  did  not  resent  her  sympathy 
and  comfort.  Nina  was  still  heaving  with  deep  sobs, 
albeit  taking  steps  toward  a  hot  bath  and  a  becoming 
gown,  when  Ida  went  away.  Her  farewells  were  made 


HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER  261 

only  to  the  composed  interloper,  who  went  with  her 
pleasantly  to  the  hall  door,  and  turned  back  with  some 
remark  for  Bottomley  that  was  in  the  perfect  tone  of 
the  mistress.  Ida's  heart  was  hot  within  her  as  she 
looked  her  last  at  Crownlands,  in  the  mellow  light  of 
the  summer  twilight. 


CHAPTER  XVIII 

ROYAL  BLONDIN  presently  came  to  pay  his  respects 
to  Harriet  in  her  changed  position.  Nina  had  told  her 
that  he  had  been  forbidden  the  house,  in  December; 
they  had  seen  him  only  two  or  three  times  since  their 
return  from  Bermuda,  and  then  accidentally.  Harriet 
was  thankful  to  believe  the  affair  between  him  and  Nina 
well  over.  The  girl  was  growing  up  now,  there  were 
other  men  in  her  world,  and  for  the  list  for  her  eigh- 
teenth birthday  party  she  had  merely  mentioned  his 
name  among  others. 

"You'll  see  that  Royal  gets  a  card,  Harriet?"  she 
had  said. 

"Well — yes,  if  you  want  him,  but  somehow  one 
doesn't  see  the  mysterious  and  artistic  Royal  in  so 
juvenile  a  party,"  Harriet  had  answered.  Nina  might 
have  disquieted  her  with  her  serene:  "Oh,  he'll  come!" 
But  Harriet  knew  Nina  was  often  over-sure  of  her  own 
powers. 

Three  days  before  the  garden  party  that  was  to  mark 
the  girl's  anniversary  Royal  drifted  in  with  the  assur- 
ance that  was  quite  characteristic  of  him.  He  rarely 
accepted  an  invitation,  or  waited  for  one.  Perhaps 
he  was  clever  enough  to  knowthat  half  his  acquaintances 
detested  him  theoretically,  but  were  glad  to  have  him 
about.  Nina  and  Harriet  came  in  from  an  afternoon 
at  the  club  to  find  him  playing  with  languid  hands  at 

262 


HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER  263 

the  piano,  and  he  lazily  rose  to  greet  them.  While 
Nina  was  there,  his  attitude  toward  both  was  pleasantly 
impersonal,  but  his  suggestion,  which  was  more  like  a 
command,  that  she  run  upstairs  and  dress  early,  so 
that  they  might  have  a  talk  before  dinner,  sent  the 
girl  flying,  and  he  and  Harriet  could  speak  more 
freely. 

"WeM,  Harriet,  I  congratulate  you!  How  does  it 
feel  to  be  a  married  woman?  I  was  with  Lenox,  in  his 
camp — we  went  up  there  to  look  it  over,"  Royal  went 
on,  in  his  musical  voice.  "It's  a  beautiful  place,  in  the 
Adirondacks.  I  saw  your  name  in  an  evening  paper; 
of  course  I  was  delighted  for  you." 

"Money  and  position  don't  really  mean  much  to  me," 
Harriet  said,  unencouragingly. 

"They  don't?"  he  asked,  with  an  upward  glance. 

"Not  lately.  Not  as  much  as  they  always  seemed 
to!"  the  girl  added,  uncertainly. 

"Perhaps  because  your  dream  is  captured,"  Blondin 
suggested.  "It's  no  longer  a  myth!  I  wonder  if  it 
isn't  always  so?" 

"I  remember  his  taking  that  dreamy,  silly  tone  years 
ago,"  Harriet  thought. 

"My  first  sensation,"  Blondin  said,  "was  one  of 
satisfaction.  I  thought  to  myself  that  my  own  cause, 
with  Nina,  was  safe  now.  That  you  trusted  me,  and  I 
had  every  reason  to  trust  you." 

Harriet  looked  away  for  a  brief  silence,  brought  her 
eyes  to  his  face.  She  felt  suddenly  sick. 

''Roy,  you're  not  still  serious  about  Nina?" 

"I  have  never  been  anything  else,"  he  said,  delicately. 

"But — but  why?"  Harriet  asked. 


264  HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER 

"I  like  the  girl,"  he  reminded  her  pleasantly.  "I 
hope  she  is  not  entirely  indifferent  to  me — 

"Indifferent!  She's  at  the  age  that  marries  any- 
body!" Harriet  said,  indignantly. 

"You  give  me  hope,"  Royal  said  with  a  bow. 

"Her  father  very  violently  opposes  it,"  Harriet  said, 
after  a  troubled  silence. 

"I  am  well  aware  of  that,  my  dear.  Her  father  for- 
bade me  the  house  last  December.  I  submitted;  the 
girl  submitted.  But  we  made  our  plans.  I  fancy  we 
will  not  have  any  difficulty  now." 

"You  mean  that  you  are  engaged?" 

"An  understanding.  We  have  corresponded,  seen 
each  other  now  and  then  through  Ida  Tabor.  It's," 
he  smiled,  dreamily,  "extremely  romantic,  of  course," 
he  said. 

Harriet  felt  that  she  could  have  killed  him. 

"You  understand  that  she  won't  have  one  penny, 
Roy.  I  know  her  father.  He  won't  yield.  He'll 
forbid  it;  he'll  not  hesitate.  If  she  does  it  against  his 
will,  she  will  have  to  wait  three  years  for  her  money. 

Three  years !  Roy,  she  wouldn't  be  happy  three 

weeks!  Mr.  Carter  spoke  to  me  about  it  the  only  time 
we've  spoken  of  you.  He  said  that  he  was  glad  the 
affair  had  ended  naturally;  that  you  were  not  the  man 
to  make  Nina  happy,  and  that  he  would  rather  have  her 
suffer  anything,  and  find  out  her  mistake  at  once,  than 
have  her  heart  broken,  and  her  money  wasted,  through 
several  wretched  years!" 

Blondin  had  listened  to  this  quietly,  his  eyes  moving 
•from  her  lips  to  her  own  earnest  eyes,  and  wandering 
over  her  animated  face. 


HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER  265 

"I  count  on  you  to  be  my  advocate,  my  dear  Harriet," 
he  said,  after  a  moment's  silence.  "Richard  Carter 
believes  in  you;  he  has  great  faith  in  your  judgment. 
If  you  represent  to  him  that  you  believe  this  to  be  a  wise 
step  all  round,  we  shall  have  no  further  trouble 

"I  can't  honestly  tell  him  so,  Roy!"  the  girl  inter- 
rupted. 

"Can't  you?"  Blondin  said.  He  looked  across  the 
open  hallway  to  Nina,  descending  in  fresh  ruffles  and 
ribbons,  and  raised  his  voice.  "Here  she  is — looking 
like  the  very  rose  of  girls!  Come  on  now,  Nina,  you 
aren't  going  to  belong  to  anybody  else  but  me  for  a 
while!"  he  said.  But  as  he  turned  to  leave  Harriet,  he 
added  again:  "Can't  you?  Think  it  over." 

The  girl  thought  it  over  with  a  maddening  and  fever- 
ish persistence  that  presently  caused  her  a  sensation 
of  actual  sickness.  How  serious  her  countenancing 
of  Nina's  love-affair  might  prove  to  be — how  unimport- 
ant it  might  prove  to  be — what  Nina  might  do  or  might 
not  do,  these  vague  speculations  churned  and  seethed 
in  the  weary  brain  that  could  find  no  beginning  and  no 
end  to  them.  To  have  made  a  clean  breast  of  the  whole 
matter  months  ago  would  have  meant  a  delicious  sense 
of  freedom  from  responsibility  now,  but  then  under 
those  circumstances  would  she,  Harriet,  have  been  here 
now?  Certainly,  even  in  the  present  purely  technical 
sense,  she  would  not  have  been  the  second  Mrs.  Richard 
Carter,  nor  would  she  have  held  her  present  position 
of  trust  and  responsibility. 

While  Nina  and  her  lover  murmured  on  the  terrace 
Harriet  brooded  on  these  things,  and  after  dinner  that 


266  HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER 

evening  she  gave  Richard  so  sharp  a  warning  that  he 
sent  at  once  for  Nina,  and  with  a  clouded  brow  and 
angry  eyes  briefly  requested  Harriet  to  be  present 
while  he  spoke  to  her. 

Nina  came  at  once,  with  an  innocent  expression  on 
her  rather  heavy  young  face.  She  seated  herself  near 
Harriet,  and  her  father  went  to  the  point  at  once. 

"Nina,"  he  said,  seriously,  "you  saw  Royal  Blondin 
this  afternoon,  didn't  you?"  And  as  Nina  answered 
only  with  an  ugly  glance  at  Harriet,  the  betrayer,  he 
added,  "Didn't  I  ask  you  not  to  see  him  any  more, 
several  months  ago?51 

"Yes,  you  did,"  Nina  said,  in  a  low  tone,  and  with  a 
heaving  breast.  She  was  sure  of  herself,  but  she  felt  a 
little  frightened. 

"I  hope,  and  we  all  hope,  that  you  will  marry  some 
day,"  Richard  said.  "But  you  are  too  young  now  to 
make  a  wise  choice.  And  until  you  are  a  little  older, 
you  will  have  to  take  my  word  for  it  that  such  an  affair 
would  only  lead  you  to  misery  and  regret." 

Nina  mumbled  something  bravely. 

"I  didn't  hear  you,"  her  father  said. 

"I  said,  I  didn't  see  what  you  could  do  about  it!" 
the  girl  repeated,  desperately. 

For  a  few  moments  of  silence  Richard  merely  looked 
gravely  at  his  daughter.  Then  he  clasped  his  fine 
hands  on  the  desk  before  him,  and  cleared  his  throat. 

"I  cannot  do  as  much  as  I  should  like,  Nina,"  he 
conceded,  "but  I  shall  do  what  I  can.  But  first  let 
me  ask  you :  have  you  promised  to  marry  Mr.  Blondin  ? " 

Silence.  Nina  looked  at  the  floor.  Richard  repeated 
his  question. 


HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER  267 

"Yes, I  have — and  you  can't  kill  me  for  it!"  Nina  said, 
and  burst  into  tears. 

"Well,"  the  father  resumed,  when  Harriet  had  sup- 
plied a  consolatory  murmur  and  a  handkerchief,  "I'm 
sorry,  of  course.  Mrs.  Tabor  carried  letters  between 
you,  did  she?  You  met  him  occasionally?" 

"Two  or  three  times,"  Nina  said,  sniffing  and  drying 
her  eyes  busily. 

"You  know  my  reasons  for  disliking  him,  Nina,"  her 
father  said.  "He  is  a  man  more  than  twice  your  age; 
he  has  a  certain  sort  of  unsavory  reputation  in  his  affairs 
with  women.  He  has  no  income,  no  profession,  no 
home;  all  those  things  tell  against  him.  But  the  most 
serious  of  all,  to  me,  is  his  mental  attitude.  The 
man  has  no  wholesome,  decent  code.  He  dabbles  in 
the  occult,  in  Oriental  morality — or  immorality.  With 
an  older  woman,  that  mightn't  matter.  She  could 
guide  him,  perhaps  influence  him.  But  you're  only  a 
child- 

"I  shall  be  of  age  Tuesday!"  Nina  burst  forth,  re- 
sentfully. 

"You  will  be  of  age  Tuesday.  True.  But  you  will 
be  my  ward,  as  far  as  your  Uncle  Edward's  legacy  is 
concerned,  for  another  three  years.  Now,  Nina,  if 
you  persist  in  this  folly,  against  my  most  earnest  advice, 
I  can  only  forbid  the  man  the  house,  and  lock  you  in 
your  room  in  the  good  old-fashioned  way.  That  I 
shall  c!o.  I  shall  then  give  out  to  the  world — that  has 
already  had  a  rare  treat  at  the  expense  of  the  Carter 
family! — the  news  of  my  utter  disapproval  of  the  match. 
If  you  manage  the  marriage  in  spite  of  me,  I  shall  forbid 
you  and  Blondin  my  house,  and  as  a  matter  of  course 


268  HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER 

use  my  right  to  withhold  the  payment  of  your  legacy 
for  three  years,  and  stop  your  present  allowance,  and 
your  credit  with  the  shops.  That's  all  I  can  do!  And 
I  do  it,  Nina,"  said  Richard  in  a  softer  tone,  "I  do  it  to 
hasten  the  inevitable,  my  dear!  I  do  it  to  bring  you 
back  to  your  father  sooner  instead  of  later;  to  give  you 
only  one  year  of  disillusionment  and  suffering,  instead 
of  seven  or  eight!" 

It  must  be  a  brave  girl,  thought  Harriet,  who  could 
persist  in  any  course,  after  that.  But  Nina  had  the 
impregnable  armour  of  ignorance  and  pride,  and  she 
only  sniffed  pathetically  again,  and  shrugged  her  shoul- 
ders. 

"You  do  everything  in  the  world  to  make  my  mar- 
riage a  failure!"  she  said  with  the  irrepressible  tears. 
"And  I  suppose  you'll  be  delighted  if  it  is!  Uncle 
Edward's  money  belongs  to  me;  Ward  has  got  his;  and 
I  don't  see  why  you  just  want  to  shame  me  before  the 
world  for  your  own  satisfaction!  Royal  is  a  perfect 
child  about  money;  he  says  that  I  will  have  to  manage 
our  business  affairs,  anyway.  And  I  don't  see — if  a 
woman  can  marry  a  rich  man,  why  a  man  shouldn't 
sometimes  be  glad  if  a  girl  has  money!  I'm  proud  to 
help  him  out,  if  he'll  let  me.  He  says  he  won't — why, 
we  had  planned  going — well,  just  everywhere,  Honolulu 
and  southern  California  and  just  everywhere,  only  now 
he  won't  go!  He  says  he  is  going  to  stay  right  here, 
and  take  a  position  with  an  art  magazine  that  he  just 
hates,  and  work  it  all  off — before  we  go,  if  it  takes 
years " 

"Work  what  all  off?"  Harriet  asked,  simply  and 
quietly. 


HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER  269 

"This  money  that  a  friend  of  his  really  lost,  but  he 
has  taken  it  upon  himself,"  Nina  answered,  a  little 
mollified.  "It  was  eleven  thousand  dollars,  and  he  has 
paid  of  about  four,  and  anyway,  I  hate  so  much  talk 
about  money!"  she  finished,  angrily. 

"My  dear,"  Harriet  said,  as  Richard,  with  a  troubled 
face,  remained  silent.  "It  isn't  the  money  that  we  are 
worrying  about.  Why,  ask  your  father,  Nina!  Ask 
him  if  he  wouldn't  write  Royal  Blondin  a  check  for 
any  sum  to-day,  any  sum,  if  you  and  he  would  promise 
solemnly  to  wait  three  years  more.  You  will  only  be 
twenty-one  then,  Nina,  still  such  a  child ! " 

Harriet  paused,  glancing  at  Richard  for  encourage- 
ment; he  nodded  eagerly,  and  she  went  on: 

"  Marriage  is  a  tremendous  thing,  Nina,  and  the  only 
thing  that  makes  it  right — 

"If  you're  going  to  say  love,"  Nina  broke  in,  scorn- 
fully, "you  didn't  marry  Father  for  love!" 

"I  was  going  to  say  mutual  understanding  and  re- 
spect," Harriet  said,  quietly,  but  the  splendid  colour 
flooded  her  face  as  she  spoke,  "and  you  do  not  under- 
stand life,  Nina,  or  men,  or  marriage.  Royal  Blondim 
is  a  charming  man,  and  a  gifted  man,  but  he  is  an  ad- 
venturer, dear;  he  is  a  man  who  has  lived  in  all  sorts  of 
places,  known  all  sorts  of  persons,  accepted  all  sorts  of 
queer  codes.  There  are  coarse  elements  in  him,  Nina, 
things  that  would  utterly  sicken  and  frighten  you! 
Your  father  is  right;  you  would  be  back  with  us  in  a 
few  months  or  years,  perhaps  with  a  child,  perhaps 
shattered  in  body  as  well  as  soul — not  free  to  take  up 
your  life  again  with  Ward  and  Amy,  but  scarred  and 
embittered  and  changed !" 


270  HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER 

"My  God,  how  that  woman  loves  the  child ! "  Richard 
said  to  himself,  watching  her.  To  him  she  seemed  in- 
spired. Her  eyes  were  blurred  with  tears,  her  voice 
shaking,  and  she  had  leaned  over  to  clasp  Nina's  hands, 
and  so  hold  the  girl's  unwilling  attention. 

"Nina,  can't  you  trust  your  father  that  far?"  Harriet 
finished.  "Can't  you  realize  that  a  man  like  Royal, 
embarrassed  for  money — no  matter  if  he  truly  admires 
you,  and  truly  means  to  make  you  happy — can't  think  of 
you  without  thinking  also  of  what  your  generous  checks 
are  going  to  mean  to  him?  Write  him  a  check  for 
eleven  thousand,  Nina,  as  a  consolation  for  delaying  the 
marriage  a  year.  Try  it!" 

Nina  rose  to  her  feet.  Her  trembling  mouth  was 
desperately  scornful,  and  her  eyes  brimming,  although 
she  fought  tears. 

"I  don't  know  why  my  own  family  is  the  first  to  think 
that  nobody  could  possibly  love  me  for  myself!"  she 
said,  in  a  breaking  voice.  "First  Harriet  ruins  my 
friendship  with  Ladybird — and  then — then !" 

"Listen,  Nina,"  her  father  said.  He  and  Harriet  had 
come  around  to  stand  beside  her,  and  he  had  encircled 
the  shaking  and  protesting  shoulders  with  his  arm.  "I 
have  just  telephoned  Fox  to  make  reservations  for  me 
on  the  next  Brazilian  steamer.  I  shall  have  to  be  a 
month  or  six  weeks  in  Rio  de  Janeiro  every  year  now. 
Now  I've  just  been  wondering  why  you  and  Harriet 
don't  come  with  me  this  first  trip?  We  stop  at  the 
Barbadoes  and  Bahia;  it's  a  magnificent  steamer — 
swimming  tanks  and  gymnasium;  you'll  love  it,  am1 
you'll  love  a  touch  of  the  South  American  countries,  too, 
a  chance  to  try  your  Spanish.  Why  not  put  off  this 


HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER  271 

marriage  idea  for  a  year,  come  along  with  me,  you'll 
make  steamer  acquaintances,  you'll  broaden  out  a  little 
bit- 

"I  won't  go  anywhere!"  sobbed  Nina,  wildly,  turning 
for  flight,  "because  I'm  going  to  kill  myself!" 

Harriet  only  waited  long  enough  after  her  dramatic 
exit  to  give  Richard  a  reassuring  nod.  Then  she  hurried 
after  Nina. 

The  girl  was  sobbing  on  her  bed,  and  for  awhile  she 
answered  Harriet's  soothing  touch  of  voice  and  hand 
only  with  angry  jerks.  Then  they  fell  to  talking,  and 
Nina  confided  for  the  first  time  fully  in  the  older  woman. 
Royal's  letters,  his  exquisite  cards,  sent  with  flowers,  the 
poems  he  had  written  her;  here  they  all  were.  Harriet 
sympathized,  sighed,  and  consoled  her  affectionately. 
Presently  she  was  able  to  suggest  a  new  thought  to  Nina, 
one  that  could  not  but  be  palatable  to  the  girl's  hurt 
spirit. 

"You  see,  you're  only  seventeen,  Nina,"  Harriet  said. 
"The  age  when  most  girls  are  still  in  the  schoolroom, 
long  before  they  have  affairs!  Well,  you're  not  inter- 
ested in  college,  so  that  ought  to  give  you  three  or  four 
clear  years  of  girlhood.  You're  bound  to  have  other 
affairs,  you've  proved  that!  You  go  to  South  America 
—perhaps  there  is  some  interesting  man  on  the  steamer; 
you  go  to  Canada — to  California,  the  world  is  yours. 
Now,  Royal  is  different.  He  is  an  experienced  man  of 
affairs;  he  will  always  have  an  attraction  for  women, 
and  they  for  him.  You  aren't  his  match,  now,  Nina. 
In  a  few  years  you  may  be ' 

"I'm  not  jealous!"  Nina  said,  proudly.  But  Harriet 
smiled. 


272  HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER 

"Yes,  you  are  jealous.  You  wouldn't  be  a  real  true 
woman  if  you  weren't!"  she  accused.  A  reluctant 
dimple  tugged  at  Nina's  pouting  mouth.  She  did 
not  dislike  the  idea  of  potential  despotism,  of  the 
travelled,  experienced  woman  of  the  world,  confident  of 
her  charm. 

"If  I  offered  a  check  to  Royal,  do  you  suppose  he'd 
accept  it!"  she  remarked,  after  dark  musing.  She  was 
sitting  on  the  edge  of  her  bed  now,  and  Harriet  was 
brushing  her  hair. 

"If  you  really  are  worried  about  his  business  affairs, 
Nina,  why  not  try  it  ? "  Harriet  suggested,  sensibly.  To 
this  Nina  returned  a  pouting: 

"  I'm  perfectly  willing  to  try  it ! "  And  as  a  great  con- 
cession she  added  with  a  sigh,  "And  I'll  tell  him  what 
Father  thinks!" 

"Now  you're  talking  like  a  woman  who  has  herself 
well  in  hand!"  Harriet  said,  approvingly.  "When  are 
you  to  see  him?" 

"He's  coming  over  especially  to  see  Father  to- 
morrow," Nina  said.  "I  suppose  I  might  as  well  go 
down,"  she  added,  eyeing  herself  gloomily  in  her  mirror, 
"for  Ward  and  that  boy  seem  absolutely  at  a  loss  for 
amusement ! " 

"And  I'll  be  down  presently,"  Harriet  said.  But 
when  Nina  was  gone  she  walked  slowly  to  her  own 
dressing  table,  and  sat  down,  and  regarded  herself 
steadily,  and  with  heavy  eyes.  Unexpectedly,  here 
between  the  family  dinner  and  the  early  going  to  bed, 
on  a  June  evening,  a  crisis  in  her  life  was  confronting 
her,  and  she  knew  that  she  must  meet  it. 

Ward's  guest  was  only  the  young  Saunders  boy,  who 


HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER  273 

had  been  with  them  constantly  last  summer,  and  who 
was  of  absolutely  no  significance  in  their  lives.  And  yet 
Harriet  had  been  introduced  to  him  all  over  again  as 
"Mrs.  Carter" — there  was  no  halfway,  in  the  eyes  of 
the  world  at  least,  in  this  relationship  of  hers  with 
Richard,  and  she  must  begin  to  take  her  place  in  the 
family. 

"Mrs.  Carter!"  Bottomley  and  Pilgrim  were  begin- 
ning to  call  her  so;  she  must  sign  checks  as  "Harriet 
Carter"  now,  she  must  say  "by  Mrs.  Carter"  in  the 
shops,  in  a  thousand  little  ways  she  must  claim  the 
dignity  of  being  his  wife. 

And  Harriet  loved  that  distinction  as  if  the  title,  the 
signature,  and  the  dignity  had  never  been  vouchsafed  to 
womankind  before.  She  had  marvelled  at  her  old  self, 
that  had  taken  "Miss"  and  "Mrs."  with  cheerful  in- 
difference— why,  there  was  a  worldwide  chasm  between 
the  two!  Just  to  have  this  silly  Saunders  boy  call  her 
Mrs.  Carter,  as  a  matter  of  course,  was  to  receive  the 
accolade  that  gave  her  all  her  longed-for  dreams  in  one. 
It  was  the  name  of  the  man  she  loved,  and,  even  though 
in  a  shadowy  and  unloved  way,  she  liked  the  title  that 
made  her  his. 

But  this  dignity  had  its  sting,  too,  and  its  responsi- 
bility. Harriet's  soul  had  been  growing  during  this 
past  year.  She  had  thrown  off  the  old  shell  of  bitter- 
ness and  discouragement,  she  had  become  ambitious 
again,  even  if  only  in  the  shallow,  mercenary  way  that 
the  life  about  her  encouraged.  And  then  that  had 
changed,  too,  and  it  had  seemed  to  Harriet  only  good  to 
serve  and  to  be  busy,  to  work  out  the  difficult  problem 
that  was  presented  her  with  all  the  accumulated  years 


274  HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER 

of  study  and  dreams,  philosophy  and  courage,  to  help 
her.  Then  love  had  come,  sweeping  all  her  old  life 
away  before  it — the  flotsam  and  jetsam  of  discouraged 
years;  what  was  ignoble  and  sordid  and  outgrown  had 
still  lined  the  river  banks,  it  was  true,  but  that  was 
carried  away  now,  the  man  she  loved  needed  her,  and  by 
some  instinct  deeper  than  any  dull  male  reasoning  of  his, 
had  drawn  her  to  him. 

And  now  she  owed  him  the  truth,  the  whole,  painful, 
humiliating  story.  If  she  had  told  him  months  ago,  so 
much  the  better  and  braver  woman  she!  She  had  not 
done  so;  she  had  been  fighting  Nina  and  his  mother 
then;  she  had  been  afraid.  But  she  was  not  afraid 
now;  he  could  forgive  that  long-ago  girl  of  seventeen 
because  her  advocate  was  the  woman  of  twenty-eight, 
the  finished,  cultivated,  capable  woman  who  had  served 
him  and  his  house,  who  must  win  his  respect  back  be- 
cause she  loved  him  with  every  fibre  of  her  being. 

The  words  in  which  she  would  tell  him  came  to  her  in 
a  rush.  Why — it  was  nothing!  It  was  less  than  noth- 
ing. In  half  an  hour  she  would  be  back  here  in  her 
room  again,  with  all  the  past  clean  and  straight  at  last, 
with  the  cloud  gone,  and  with  her  whole  soul  singing 
with  hope  of  the  glorious  future.  For  a  moment  she 
knelt  by  her  bed,  her  face  in  her  hands. 

She  rose  to  her  feet.     There  was  a  tap  at  the  door. 

It  was  Bottomley.  "If  you  please,  'm — Mr.  Carter 
would  be  so  much  obliged  if  she  would  step  down  to  the 
library,  'm."  Harriet  gave  herself  a  parting  glance,  and 
followed  the  man  downstairs. 

"Courage!"  she  said  to  herself,  with  her  hand  on  the 
library  door.  "I've  exaggerated  and  enlarged  upon 


HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER  275 

this  thing  too  long!  I've  imagined  it  into  an  importance 
that  it  really  hasn't  at  all!" 

Richard  was  back  at  his  desk;  he  smiled  and  rose  as 
she  came  in.  There  was  another  man  in  the  library, 
who  rose  and  faced  her,  too. 

And  when  Harriet  saw  him  she  knew  that  she  was  too 
late.  It  was  Royal  Blondin. 

A  dizziness  and  sickness  came  over  her  as  she  went 
slowly  to  the  chair  opposite  Richard.  She  touched  the 
desk  for  support  as  she  sat  down,  and  felt  that  her 
fingers  were  cold  and  wet. 

"Mr.  Blondin  has  come  to  talk  to  me  about  Nina," 
Richard  said.  Harriet  somehow  moved  her  dizzy  eyes 
toward  Blondin,  and  she  smiled  mechanically.  But 
she  had  to  moisten  her  lips  before  she  could  speak. 

"I  see!"  Her  voice  sounded  horribly  choked  to 
her;  she  could  find  nothing  to  add  to  the  meaningless 
words. 

"Mr.  Blondin  asks  my  consent  to  an  immediate 
marriage,"  Richard  said.  "You  know  my  objections 
to  that,  Harriet,  of  course!  We  have  just  been  dis- 
cussing them,  as  I  explained  to  him.  This  is  a  painful 
matter  to  me,  and  I  regret  it.  But  Mr.  Blondin  has 
given  me  no  choice  but  to  tell  him  frankly  why  I  think 
him  an  unsuitable  husband  for  my  daughter.  I  have 
told  him  exactly  what  my  procedure  will  be  in  such  a 
case,  and  I  think  we  understand  each  other!" 

Royal  was  smiling  the  serene,  dreamy  smile  that  was 
characteristic  of  him. 

"Nina,"  he  said,  tenderly,  "is  warm  hearted.  And  a 
chance  allusion  to  my  financial  position,  which  I  thought 


276  HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER 

I  owed  her,  has  distressed  her  unnecessarily.  It  will, 
truly,  be  out  of  the  question  for  me  to  travel,  as  we 
had  planned.  The  unfortunate  speculations  of  my 
friend- 

"Whose  name  you  withhold,"  Richard  interrupted 
the  musical  voice  to  say,  drily. 

"Because  of  a  promise!"  Royal  flashed  promptly. 
"But,"  he  resumed,  turning  to  Harriet,  "I  shall  be  able 
to  negotiate  this  business,  as  I  assure  Mr.  Carter,  with- 
out any  assistance  from  him  or  his  daughter,"  his  lip 
curled  scornfully,  "and  I  do  not  propose  to  give  her  up 
for  any  three  years — or  three  weeks!" 

Harriet  could  only  look  at  him  fixedly,  with  an  ashen 
face. 

"God  help  me,"  she  breathed  in  her  soul.  "God 
help  me!" 

"Well,"  said  Richard,  with  weary  impatience,  "we 
did  not  call  you  down  to  bore  you  with  this!  I  asked 
to  see  you,  Harriet,  because  Mr.  Blondin  has  made  the 
statement  to  me,  just  now,  that  you  were  heartily  in 
accord  with  his  plans  for  Nina,  and  that  you  approved 
of  the  affair!" 

The  prayer  in  Harriet's  heart  did  not  stop  as  she 
moved  her  wretched  eyes  to  Blondin. 

"I  believed  that  you  and  she  had  not  seen  each  other 
since  December,"  she  reminded  him.  "I  lost  no  chance 
to  advise  her  against  the  engagement !  I  thought  it  was 
all  over!" 

"Well!"  Richard  said,  with  a  breath  of  relief.  He 
had  been  watching  her  closely,  now  he  settled  back  in 
his  chair,  and  moved  his  contemptuous  scrutiny  to 
Blondin. 


HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER  277 

"One  moment!"  Royal  Blondin  said,  gently.  But  he 
was  also  pale.  "You  believe  that  I  would  make  Nina  a 
good  husband,  don't  you?"  he  asked  Harriet  directly 
and  quietly. 

She  was  not  looking  at  him.  Her  eyes  were  on  Rich- 
ard Carter. 

"I  believe  you  would  ruin  her  life!"  she  said,  deliber- 
ately. 

"Thank  you,"  Richard  said.  "I  think  that  is  all, 
Mr.  Blondin.  I  was  aware  that  you  had — misunder- 
stood Mrs.  Carter  when  you  made  that  statement!" 

"Not  quite  all,"  Blondin  persisted.  "You  believe 
that  Nina  would  be  wiser  not  to  marry  me?"  he  asked 
Harriet. 

"You—  '  She  cleared  her  throat.  "You  know  that 
I  think  so!"  she  said. 

Blondin  laughed. 

"And  now,  Mr.  Blondin,  you  will  kindly  leave  my 
house!"  said  Richard. 

The  other  man  was  watching  Harriet,  with  a  menace 
in  his  narrowed  eyes.  White  lines  had  drawn  them- 
selves about  his  tightly  closed  lips,  yet  he  was  smiling. 
He  had  lost  the  game,  truly,  but  she  knew  he  would 
play  his  last  card,  just  the  same.  The  suavity,  the  calm 
of  years  fell  from  him,  and  his  voice  deepened  into  a  sort 
of  cold  and  quiet  fury  as  he  said : 

"One  moment,  Mr.  Carter.  Why  don't  you  ask 
your  wife  what  makes  her  think  I  won't  make  Nina  a 
good  husband?  Why  don't  you  ask  her  if  she  has 
been  hiding  something  from  you  all  this  time?  Why 
don't  you  ask  her  if  she  herself  wasn't  madly  in 
love — and  with  me! — when  she  was  Nina's  age,  and 


278  HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER 

whether  she  was  married  in  my  studio,  to  me,  ten  years 

• » 
ago ! 

He  had  shot  the  phrases  at  her  with  a  distinctness 
almost  violent.  Now  his  dry  voice  stopped,  but  his 
swift,  venomous  look  went  from  the  silent  man  at  the 
desk  to  the  silent  woman  who  stood  before  him.  Before 
either  moved  or  spoke  he  spoke  again. 

"Ask  her— she'll  tell  you!    Ask  her!" 

"Be  quiet!"  Richard  said.  "I  don't  believe  one 
word  of  it!"  And  then  as  the  girl  neither  raised  her 
eyes  nor  attempted  to  speak,  he  asked  her,  encourage- 
ingly  and  quickly:  "Harriet,  will  you  tell  him  that  not 
one  word  of  that  is  true?" 

Harriet  had  risen,  and  was  standing  at  the  back  of  the 
carved  black  chair  with  both  her  hands  resting  upon  it. 
She  had  looked  quietly  at  Blondin,  when  he  began  to 
speak,  and  the  beautiful  white  breast  that  her  black 
evening  gown  left  bare  had  risen  once  or  twice  on  a 
swift  impulse  to  interrupt  him.  But  now  she  was  look- 
ing down  at  her  laced  fingers,  with  something  despairing 
and  helpless  in  the  droop  of  her  bright  head  and  lowered 
lashes. 

It  had  had  its  times  of  seeming  frightful  to  her,  this 
secret,  in  the  troubled  musings  of  the  past  year.  But  it 
had  never  loomed  so  horrible  and  so  momentous  as 
now,  in  the  silent  library,  with  the  eyes  of  the  man  she 
loved  fixed  anxiously  upon  her.  He  had  trusted,  he  was 
beginning  to  admire  her,  and  like  his  wife  and  his 
daughter  and  his  mother,  she  had  failed  him. 

"Harriet?"  he  said  in  quick  uneasiness.  She 
raised  her  head  now,  and  looked  at  him  with  weary  eyes 
devoid  of  any  expression  except  bewilderment  and  pain. 


HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER  279 

"Yes,"  she  said,  simply.  "That  is  all — quite  true. 
It  sounds —  "  she  hesitated,  and  groped  for  words — "it 
sounds — as  if—  "  she  began,  and  stopped  again.  "  But 
it  is  all  quite  true ! "  she  finished,  in  the  troubled  tone  of  a 
child  who  is  misunderstood. 

Then  for  a  long  time  there  was  silence  in  the  library. 


CHAPTER  XIX 

THE  curtains  at  the  French  windows  in  the  library  at 
Crownlands  stirred  in  the  breeze  of  the  warm  summer 
night,  the  pendulum  of  the -big  clock  behind  Richard 
Carter  moved  to  and  fro,  but  for  a  long  time  there  was 
no  other  sound  in  the  library.  Richard  had  dropped 
his  eyes,  was  idly  staring  at  the  blank  sheet  of  paper 
before  him.  Royal  Blondin,  who  had  folded  his  arms, 
for  a  moment  studied  Harriet  between  half-closed  lids, 
but  presently  his  eyes  fell,  too,  and  with  a  rather 
troubled  expression  he  studied  the  pattern  of  the  great 
Oriental  rug. 

Harriet  stood  motionless,  turned  to  stone.  If  there 
was  anything  to  be  said  in  her  behalf,  she  could  not  say 
it  now.  For  the  first  time  the  full  measure  of  her  re- 
sponsibility and  the  full  measure  of  her  deceit  smote 
her,  and  in  utter  sickness  of  spirit  she  could  advance  no 
excuse.  It  was  not  that  she  had  failed  Blondin,  or  that 
she  had  failed  Richard,  but  the  extent  of  her  failure 
toward  herself  appalled  her.  She  was  not  the  good, 
brave,  cultivated  woman  she  had  liked  to  think  herself; 
she  was  one  more  egotist,  with  Nina,  and  Isabelle,  and 
Ida,  unscrupulously  playing  her  own  game  for  her  own 
ends. 

"I'm  extremely  sorry,"  Richard  said,  presently,  in  a 
somewhat  lifeless  tone.  "  I  imagine  that  if  my  daughter 
had  known  this,  she  might  have  been  spared  some  suffer- 

Z3Q 


HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER  281 

ing  and  some  humiliation.  But  we  needn't  consider 
that  now."  He  was  silent,  frowning  faintly.  He  put 
up  a  fine  hand  and  adjusted  his  eyeglasses  with  a  little 
impatient  muscular  twitching  of  his  whole  face  that 
Harriet  knew  to  be  characteristic  of  his  worried  moods. 
"Mr.  Blondin,"  he  said,  wearily  and  politely,  "I  have 
had  a  great  deal  on  my  mind,  lately,  and  have  perhaps 
been  hasty  in  my  condemnation  of  you.  However, 
this  does  not  particularly  help  your  cause  with  my 
daughter.  There  are  a  great  many  aspects  to  the  mat- 
ter, and  I — I  must  take  time  to  consider  them.  Nina 
must  be  my  first  consideration,  poor  child!  Her  mother 
failed  her — we  have  all  failed  her!  She  has  a  right  to 
know  of  this  conversation " 

Harriet  stirred,  and  his  eyes  moved  to  her.  Without 
a  word,  and  with  a  stricken  look  in  her  beautiful,  ashen 
face,  she  turned,  and  went  slowly  toward  the  door. 
When  she  reached  it,  she  steadied  herself  a  second  by 
pressing  one  fine  hand  against  the  dark  wood,  then  she 
opened  it  and  was  gone. 

"I'm  very  sorry "  Blondin  said,  hesitatingly,  when 

the  men  were  alone. 

"Mrs.  Carter,"  Richard  said,  getting  to  his  feet,  and 
very  definitely  indicating  an  end  to  the  conversation, 
"before  she  consented  to  the — arrangement  into  which 
we  entered,  of  course  took  me  into  her  confidence  in 
this  matter!" 

"She — she  did?"  Royal  stammered. 

"Certainly  she  did,"  Richard  said,  harshly.  And 
looking  at  him  the  other  man  saw  that  his  face  looked 
haggard  and  colourless.  "She  did  not  mention  your 
name,  I  presume  out  of  a  sense  of  generosity  to  you.  I 


282  HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER 

could  have  wished,"  he  added,  "that  you  had  been 
similarly  generous,  and  had  seen  fit  to  leave  her,  and 
leave  my  daughter  alone.  I  think  I  must  ask  you  to 
excuse  me,"  said  Richard  at  the  door.  His  tone  was 
one  of  absolute  suffocation.  "I  can  see  no  object  in 
your  frankness  to-night,  unless  to  distress  and  humiliate 
Mrs.  Carter.  My  daughter,  and  not  myself,  is  the  one 
entitled  to  your  confidence,  and  you  are  well  aware  of 
my  feeling  where  she  is  concerned !  I  would  to  God," 
said  Richard,  with  bitterness,  "that  I  had  never  seen 
your  face!  Mrs.  Carter  has  been  a  useful — and  indis- 
pensable!— member  of  this  family  for  many  years;  if 
there  was  in  her  past  some  unpleasant  and  painful 
event,  that  is  her  own  affair — 

"Not  when  she  marries  a  man  who  is  unaware  of  it," 
Blondin  suggested,  in  his  pleasant,  soft  tones. 

"That  is  mine!"  Richard  said,  sternly.  And  he 
opened  the  library  door.  "Good  evening!"  he  said. 

"Good  evening!"  Blondin,  with  his  light,  loitering 
step,  crossed  the  threshold,  and  Richard  closed  the  door. 
He  took  his  chair  again,  and  reached  toward  the  bell 
that  would  have  brought  Bottomley  to  summon  Nina 
in  turn.  But  halfway  to  the  bell  his  resolution  wavered, 
disappeared.  Instead,  he  rested  his  elbows  on  the 
table,  and  his  head  in  his  hands,  and  there  sounded  from 
his  chest  a  great  sigh  that  was  almost  a  groan. 

Oh,  he  was  tired — he  was  tired — he  was  tired!  It 
was  all  a  mess — the  boy,  the  girl,  their  mother,  his  own 
arrangements  for  their  protection  and  safety.  All  a 
mess. 

She  had  been  beautiful,  that  girl,  with  her  golden  hair 
in  the  lamplight,  and  her  white  arms  a  little  raised  to 


HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER  283 

rest  her  locked  hands  on  the  chair.  Like  some  superb 
actress  of  tragedy,  some  splendid  and  sullen  prisoner 
at  the  bar.  The  slender  figure  in  the  dull  wrapping  of 
satin,  and  the  white  bosom,  had  looked  so  young,  so 
virginal,  the  blue  eyes  were  so  honestly  frightened  and 
ashamed.  And  she  had  been  that  bounder's  wife — 
in  his  arms!  Divorced!  Harriet  Field?  Poor  girl, 
cornered  by  this  unscrupulous  scoundrel,  this  bully, 
with  all  the  ugly  past  dragged  up  like  the  muddy 
bottom  of  a  river,  staining  and  clouding  the  clear 
waters.  And  what  a  look  she  had  given  him,  there 
under  the  lamp! 

"It's  a  funny  code,"  he  mused.  "Barbarians,  that's 
what  we  are,  when  it  comes  to  women.  Nina,  Ida, 
Isabelle,  Harriet — all  of  them  pay  for  the  man-made 
rule!  I  shouldn't  have  forced  her  hand  in  this  busi- 
ness marriage;  it  was  taking  an  advantage  of  her.  No 
woman  wants  to  marry  for  anything  but  love,  and  if 
she  had  married  for  love,  she  would  have  made  a  clean 
breast  of  this  old  affair,  of  course.  I  didn't  exact  that. 
We've  made  a  nice  mess  of  it,  all  around! 

"I  mustn't  let  her  work  herself  into  a  fever  over  all 
this!"  he  found  himself  thinking. 

But  Nina  must,  be  the  first  consideration.  He  must 
plan  for  Nina.  He  brought  his  thoughts  back  resolutely 
—his  daughter  must  break  her  engagement  now,  there 
was  that  much  gained.  And  for  the  journey  to  Rio — 

"But  why  didn't  she  tell  me!"  he  interrupted  himself, 
suddenly.  The  reference  was  not  to  Nina.  Again  he 
saw  the  superb  white  shoulders  in  the  soft  flood  of  lamp- 
light, and  the  flash  of  the  blue  eyes  that  turned  toward 
Blondin. 


284  HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER 

"She  could  have  killed  him!"  Richard  said.  "My 
God!  how  she  will  love  when  she  does  love!" 

Meanwhile,  to  Harriet  had  come  the  bitterest  hour 
of  her  life.  She  had  reached  a  crossroads,  and  with 
steady  fingers  and  an  anguished  heart  she  prepared  for 
the  only  step  that  to  her  whirling  brain  and  shamed  soul 
seemed  possible.  She  must  disappear.  There  was  no 
alternative. 

She  had  harmed  them  all,  they  could  only  think  of 
her  now  as  an  unscrupulous  and  mischievous  woman 
who  had  by  chance  entered  their  lives  when  they 
were  all  in  desperate  need  of  wisdom  and  guidance,  who 
had  played  her  own  contemptible  game,  and  added 
one  more  hurt  to  the  hurt  reputation  of  the  house  of 
Carter. 

Harriet  got  out  of  her  evening  gown  and  into  a  loose 
wrapper.  She  went  about  somewhat  aimlessly,  yet 
the  suitcases,  spread  open  on  the  bed,  were  gradually 
filled,  and  her  personal  possessions  gradually  disap- 
peared from  tables  and  walls.  Now  and  then  she  stop- 
ped short,  heartsick  and  trembling;  once  her  lips  quiv- 
ered and  her  eyes  filled,  but  for  the  most  part  she  did 
not  pause. 

Nina,  at  about  eleven,  had  come  to  the  door  between 
their  rooms,  and  opened  it.  The  girl  was  undressed, 
and  for  a  few  moments  she  watched  Harriet  scowlingly, 
with  narrowed  eyes. 

"Are  you  going  away?"  she  said,  presently.  Harriet 
brought  heavy  eyes  to  meet  hers,  and  stood  considering 
a  minute,  as  if  bringing  her  thoughts  back  a  long  dis- 
tance. 


HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER  285 

"I — going  away?  Yes,"  she  said,  slowly.  "Yes,  I 
may. " 

Nina  still  stood  watching,  which  seemed  vaguely 
to  trouble  Harriet,  who  gave  her  a  restless  glance  now 
and  then  as  she  went  to  and  fro.  Presently  she  spoke 
to  Nina  again. 

"Good-night,  Nina!" 

"Good-night!"  snapped  Nina,  and  the  door  slammed. 

Harriet  continued  to  move  about  for  perhaps  half  an 
hour  before  Nina's  odd  manner  recurred  to  her,  on  a 
wave  of  memory,  and  she  seemed  to  hear  again  Nina's 
ungracious  tone. 

"He  told  her!"  she  said,  suddenly.  "She  saw  Royal, 
and  he  told  her!  Poor  child 

And  she  went  to  Nina's  room,  with  a  vague  idea  that 
she  would  sit  beside  the  weeping  girl  for  awhile,  one 
heavy  heart  close  to  the  other,  even  if  no  words  could 
pass  between  them. 

But  Nina  lay  sleeping  peacefully,  and  Harriet,  after 
watching  her  for  a  few  minutes,  went  back  to  her  own 
room.  She  went  to  the  open  window,  and  stood  staring 
absently  out  at  the  dark  summer  night,  the  great 
branches  of  the  trees  moving  in  the  restless  wind,  and 
the  oblong  of  dull  light  that  still  fell  from  the  library 
window. 

She  could  not  see  the  horror  as  Richard  saw  it:  she 
could  not  see  herself  as  only  a  mistaken  woman,  a 
woman  with  youth,  beauty,  and  intelligence  pleading 
for  her,  one  problem  more  in  his  life  it  is  true,  but  only 
one  among  many,  and  not  the  greatest.  She  did  not 
see  him  as  he  saw  himself,  his  family  as  the  somewhat 
troublesome,  and  yet  quite  understandable,  group  of 


286  HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER 

• 

selfish  human  beings  in  whose  perplexities  he  had  al- 
ways played  the  part  of  arbiter. 

To  Harriet  the  thing  loomed  momentous,  unforgiv- 
able, incalculable.  It  assumed  to  her  the  proportions 
of  a  murder.  Bigamy,  perjury,  deceit — what  hadn't 
she  done!  Richard,  in  her  estimation,  was  not  what  he 
thought  himself,  a  somewhat  ordinary  man  in  the  forties 
whose  life  had  already  held  poverty  and  disillusionment 
and  wholesome  disappointment,  whose  nature  had  been 
tempered  to  humour  and  generosity  and  philosophy; 
to  Harriet,  he  was  the  richest,  the  finest,  the  most  de- 
serving of  men,  and  she  the  adventuress  who  had  brought 
his  name  down  to  shame  and  dishonour. 

Until  two  o'clock  she  was  wretchedly  busy  in  soul 
and  body.  When  the  last  of  her  personal  possessions 
was  packed,  and  when  she  was  aching  from  head  to  foot, 
she  took  a  hot  bath,  and  crept  into  bed. 

But  not  to  sleep.  The  feverish  agonies  of  shame  and 
reproach  held  her.  She  was  pleading  with  Richard, 
she  was  talking  to  Nina — she  was  making  little  of  it- 
making  much  of  it — she  was  saying  a  reluctant  "yes — 
yes — yes!"  to  their  questioning. 

At  four  o'clock  she  dressed  herself  again,  half-mad 
with  headache  and  fatigue,  and  went  out  into  a  world 
that  was  just  beginning  to  brighten  into  faint  shapes  and 
colours.  The  fresh  cold  air  of  morning  struck  her  jaded 
senses  with  a  delicious  chill;  she  went  noiselessly  across 
the  terrace  and  down  toward  the  water,  her  big  soft 
coat  brushing  spider-webs  from  the  dim  rosebushes  as  she 
went.  The  world  lay  silent,  fragrant,  saturated  with  dew. 
Yet  under  its  chill  Harriet  felt  the  pervading  warmth 
of  the  day  that  had  gone,  and  the  day  that  was  to  come. 


HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER  287 

She  drew  in  great  breaths  of  it;  it  was  her  world  for 
another  three  hours.  Then  men  would  begin  to  stir 
themselves,  down  at  the  river  docks,  and  at  the  stables 
and  garages,  and  smoke  would  go  up  from  the  chimneys 
of  Crownlands,  and  rakes  clink  on  the  gravel  walks. 
She  went  down  to  the  little  pier,  and  sat  on  a  weather- 
worn bench,  and  watched  the  day  breaking  softly  over 
the  river. 

Little  wrinkles  crossed  the  satiny  surface  of  the 
Hudson,  which  looked  dark  and  metallic  in  the  twilight. 
But  presently  there  was  a  general  glimmering  and 
widening,  and  across  the  river  trees  and  houses  were 
touched  with  light,  and  window-panes  flashed.  Harriet, 
huddled  into  her  coat,  did  not  stir;  she  might  have  been, 
for  an  hour,  a  part  of  the  motionless  scene. 

A  steamer  moved  majestically  up  the  river,  the 
smoothly  widening  wake  spread  from  shore  to  shore; 
pink  light  showed  at  one  cabin  window;  and  into  Har- 
riet's sombre  thoughts  came  unbidden  the  picture  of  a 
yawning  cook,  stumbling  about  amid  his  soot-blackened 
pots  and  pans. 

With  the  morning,  the  peace  of  a  conquered  spirit  fell 
upon  her.  She  had  thought  it  all  to  an  ending  at  last. 
It  seemed  to  Harriet  that  never  in  her  life  had  she 
thought  so  clearly,  so  truly,  so  bravely.  Her  duty  to 
Richard,  to  his  children,  to  Linda;  she  had  faced  them 
without  fear  and  without  deception,  tasting  the  humili- 
ating truth  to  its  bitter  dregs,  planning  the  few  short 
interviews  that  must  precede  her  leaving  them  all 
forever. 

For  Harriet  emerged  from  the  furnace  the  mistress 
of  her  own  soul.  She  had  been  wrong;  she  had  been 


288  HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER 

weak;  she  had  been  contemptible;  but  not  so  wrong  or 
weak  or  contemptible  as  they  would  think  her.  She 
would  go  on  her  way  now,  the  braver  for  the  lesson 
and  the  shame.  And  what  they  thought  of  her  must 
never  shake  again  her  own  knowledge  of  her  own  in- 
nocence. 

Go  on  her  way  to  what  ?  She  did  not  know.  But  she 
neither  feared  what  the  future  might  hold  nor  doubted, 
it.  She  could  make  her  own  way  from  a  new  beginning. 

"But  before  I  go,"  said  Harriet,  resolutely,  "I  must 
tell  him  that  I'm  sorry.  And  I  must  ask  Nina  to  for- 
give me. " 

She  turned,  and  buried  her  face  in  the  thick,  soft  sleeve 
of  her  coat.  But  she  did  not  cry  long,  and  when  Jensen, 
the  boatman,  came  out  on  the  dock  at  seven,  the  lady 
he  knew  to  be  his  new  mistress  was  sitting  composedly 
enough  on  her  bench,  studying  the  now  glittering  and 
sparkling  river  with  quiet  eyes. 

Harriet  nodded  to  him,  and  rose  somewhat  stiffly,  to 
go  up  to  the  house.  She  mounted  the  brick  steps  with 
a  thoughtfully  dropped  head — the  straight  shafts  of 
the  sunlight  were  making  it  impossible  to  face  the  house, 
in  any  case — and  so  was  within  three  feet  of  Richard 
Carter  before  she  saw  him. 

He  looked  fresh,  hard,  even  young,  in  his  white  flan- 
nels. They  stood  looking  at  each  other  for  a  moment 
without  speaking. 

"Where  have  you  been?"  said  Richard,  sharply,  then. 
"You  look  ill!" 

Tears,  despite  her  desperate  resolution,  suddenly  stung 
Harriet's  eyes.  And  yet  her  heart  leaped  with  hope. 

"I  wanted  to  see  you,  Mr.  Carter,"  she  faltered.     "I 


HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER  289 

couldn't  sleep  very  well.  I've  been  down  at  the  shore. 
But  later — any  time  will  do!" 

"You  couldn't  sleep!"  he  exclaimed  with  quick 
sympathy.  He  looked  from  her  about  him,  as  if  for 
a  shelter  for  her  emotion.  "Here,"  he  said,  "come 
down  the  steps  a  bit.  I  was  just  going  down  to  the 
court  for  a  little  tennis;  Ward  may  follow  me,  but  he 
won't  be  dressed  for  half  an  hour  yet.  Sit  down  here; 
we  can  talk." 

They  had  come  to  the  marble  bench  on  the  terrace, 
where  Isabelle  and  Anthony  Pope,  sheltered  by  these 
same  towering  trees  and  low  brick  walls,  had  had  their 
talk  a  year  ago.  Harriet,  to  her  own  consternation, 
felt  that  she  was  in  danger  of  tears. 

"I — I  hardly  know  how  to  say  it,"  she  began. 
"But — but  you  know  how  ashamed  I  am!" 

"I  know — I  know  how  you  feel!"  Richard  said  with  a 
sort  of  brief  sympathy.  "I'm  sorry!  But  you  know 
you  mustn't  take  this  all  too  hard.  I  didn't — I  was 
thinking  of  this  last  night;  I  didn't  ask  you  for — well, 
any  more  than  you  gave  me,  in  this  marriage  of  ours. 
Your  divorce  was  your  own  affair " 

The  girl's  tired  eyes  flashed. 

"There  was  no  divorce!"  she  said,  quickly. 

"No  divorce?"  he  echoed  with  a  puzzled  frown. 

"I  want  to  tell  you  about  it!"  she  said.  But  the 
tears  would  come  again.  "I'm  tired!"  Harriet  said, 
childishly,  trying  to  smile.  "I've  been  up — walking. 
I  couldn't  sleep!" 

The  consciousness  that  he  had  been  able  to  forget  the 
whole  tangle,  and  sleep  soundly,  gave  Richard's  voice  a 
little  compunction  as  he  said: 


290  HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER 

"You  don't  have  to  tell  me  now.  We'll  find  a  way 
out  of  it  that  is  easy  for  everyone " 

"No,  but  let  me  talk!"  Harriet,  in  her  eagerness,  laid 
her  fingers  on  his  wrist,  and  he  was  shocked  to  feel  that 
they  were  icy  cold.  "I  want  to  tell  you  the  whole 
thing — I  want  you  to  understand!"  she  said,  eagerly. 
Richard  looked  at  her  in  some  anxiety;  there  was  no 
acting  here.  The  rich  hair  was  pushed  carelessly  from 
the  troubled  forehead.  She  was  huddled  in  the  en- 
veloping coat,  a  different  figure  indeed  from  his  memory 
of  the  superb  and  angry  girl  of  last  night  in  the  library 
lamplight. 

"Mr.  Carter,  I  never  knew  my  mother "  she 

began.  But  he  interrupted  her. 

"My  dear,"  he  said,  in  a  tone  he  might  have  used  to 
Nina.  He  laid  his  warm,  fine  hand  on  hers,  and  patted 
it  soothingly.  "My  dear  girl,  if  you  feel  that  you 
would  like  to  go  to  that  motherly  sister  of  yours — if 
you  feel  that  it  would  be  wjser 

"Oh,  I  am  going  to  Linda  at  once!"  Harriet  said, 
feverishly,  hurt  to  the  soul.  "I  had  planned  that! 
But — but  won't  you  let  me  tell  you?"  she  pleaded. 
She  had  framed  the  sentences  a  hundred  times  in  the 
long  night;  they  failed  her  utterly  now,  and  she  groped 
for  words.  "I  was  only  three  years  old  when  my 
mother  died,"  she  said.  "Qf  course  I  don't  remember 
her — I  only  remember  Linda.  I  was  shy,  my  father  was 
a  professor,  we  were  too  poor  to  have  very  much  social 
life.  I  lived  in  books,  lived  in  my  father's  shabby  little 
study  really;  I  never  had  an  intimate  girl  friend !  Linda 
was  always  good — angelically  good — talking  of  the 
Armenian  sufferers,  and  of  the  outrages  in  the  Congo, 


HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER  291 

and  of  the  poor  in  New  York's  lower  east  side — she 
never  cared  that  we  were  poor,  and  that  we  hadn't 
clothes!" 

"I  know — I  know!"  Richard's  eyes  were  smiling,  as 
if  he  knew  the  picture,  and  liked  it. 

"Well,  Linda  married  when  I  was  ten,  and  Josephine 
came,  and  then  Julia  came.  I  still  lived  for  books  and 
babies.  But,  unlike  Linda,  I  cared."  Harriet's  whole 
face  glowed;  she  looked  off  into  space,  and  her  voice  had 
a  longing  note.  "I  cared  for  clothes  and  good  times!" 
she  said.  "I  adored  the  children,  but  I  dreamed  of 
carriages — maids — glory — achievements!  I  knew  that 
other  women  did  it — 

"I  remember  feeling  that  way!"  Richard  commented, 
mildly,  as  she  paused. 

"Well,"  Harriet  said,  "I  met  Royal  Blondin  one  night. 
He  lived  in  our  town — Watertown.  He  had  a  dreadful, 
artificial  sort  of  mother.  My  sister  didn't  approve  of 
her  at  all.  A  friend  of  his  named  Street  was  an  artist, 
and  he  had  a  nice  little  wife,  and  a  baby,  and  they  lived 
in  a  big,  barnlike  sort  of  studio.  It  seemed  wonderful 
to  me.  They  loved  each  other,  and  their  baby,  but 
they  were  so  free!  They  would  have  the  whole  crowd 
to  dinner,  twenty  of  us,  bread  and  red  wine  and  macaroni 
and  music  and  talk,  it  was  wonderful — or  I  thought  so! 
It  was  so  different  from  Linda's  ideas,  of  frosted  layer- 
cake,  and  chopped  nuts,  and  Five  Hundred.  I  loved 
the  studio,  and  they — they  all  loved  me,  and  he — Royal — 
loved  me  especially.  He  used  to  talk  about  Yogi  phi- 
losophy and  Oriental  religions  and  poetry,  and  after 
awhile  it  was  understood  among  them  all  that  he  loved 
me,  and  I  him.  And  we  were  engaged.  Of  course 


292  HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER 

Linda  suspected,  and  there  was  opposition  at  home,  but 
in  the  studio,  helping  the  Streets  get  their  suppers,  it 
seemed  so  right — so  simple!  Royal  said  he  did  not 
believe  in  the  orthodox  ceremony  of  marriage.  He 
argued  that  no  one  could  live  up  to  its  promises,  and 
I  believed  him.  Miriam  Street,  the  artist's  wife,  was  a 
poet,  and  she  wrote  the  ceremony  by  which  we  were 
married.  We  had  a  big  supper,  and  they  were  all  there, 
and  this  poem — this  marriage  poem — was  beautiful. 
It  was  published  in  a  magazine,  afterward,  and  called 
'A  Marriage  for  True  Lovers'.  It  had  a  part  for  the 
woman  to  say,  and  a  part  for  the  man,  and  Royal  and 
I  said  those,  and  then  it  had  a  part  for  the  woman's 
friend,  and  the  man's  friend,  and  for  all  their  friends. 
And  then  there  was  a  promise  that  when  love  failed  on 
either  side,  the  two  were  free,  to  keep  the  memory  of 
the  perfect  love  unstained  by  the  ugly  years." 

She  paused;  Richard  did  not  speak.  She  had  told 
him  this  much  in  a  simple,  childish  voice,  a  voice  that 
was  an  echo  of  that  old  time,  he  knew.  Presently  she 
went  on : 

"There  was  music,  and  then  they  all  kissed  me,  and 
we  had  supper,  and  they  drank  our  health.  I  went  back 
that  night  to  my  sister's;  Royal  stayed  with  his  mother. 
We  planned  to  go  away  on  our  honeymoon  the  next 
day.  I  did  not  tell  Linda  and  Fred  that  I  considered 
myself  married.  I  knew  they  would  not  understand 
and  would  try  to  interfere. 

"The  next  morning  I  slipped  away  from  the  house, 
with  my  suitcase,  and  I  met  Royal  Blondin  downtown. 
We  motored  to  Syracuse,  and  took  a  train  there  for 
New  York.  I  had  felt  sick  when  I  awakened — it  was 


HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER  293 

partly  excitement,  and  partly  the  supper  the  night  be- 
fore, when  we  had  all  eaten  and  drunk  too  much.  But 
I  was  very  sick  in  the  train,  I  thought  I  was  going  to  die. 
Royal  persuaded  me  to  eat  my  lunch  in  the  dining  car, 
and  that  only  made  me  worse.  There  was  a  nice  woman 
in  the  train,  with  two  little  girls,  and  she  took  care  of  me. 
And  when  she  got  to  New  York — I  had  told  her  that  I 
was  on  my  wedding  journey,  and  perhaps  that  made  her 
kind — she  took  us  to  her  boarding-house,  in  West 
Forty-sixth  Street.  The  landlady  was  a  dear,  good 
woman,  a  Mrs.  Harrington,  and — I  was  very  sick  by 
this  time! — she  put  me  into  her  own  room,  because  the 
house  was  full,  and  sent  for  her  own  doctor. 

"It  was  a  time  of  horror,"  Harriet  said,  smiling  a 
little,  after  a  moment  of  thought.  "The  strange  women 
and  the  strange  room,  and  Royal  coming  in  with  flowers, 
and  sitting  beside  me.  The  doctor  said  it  was  a  touch 
of  poisoning,  and  I  was  ill  only  a  few  days.  But  the  home- 
sickness, and  the  strangeness!  Somehow,  I  didn't  feel 
married,  I  felt  like  a  lost  little  girl.  I  wanted  to  be 
back  in  Linda's  kitchen  again,  safe,  and  scolding  be- 
cause nothing  interesting  ever  happened. 

"Well,  I  was  sick  for  three  or  four  days.  It  was  the 
fourth  day  when  I  was  well  enough  to  go  out.  Royal 
thanked  them,  and  paid  Mrs.  Harrington  and  the  doctor 
and  we  went  to  lunch  downtown — it  was  at  Martin's, 
I  remember,  and  Royal  was  so  excited  and  interested  in 
everything.  But  I  still  felt  limp  and  dull.  We  shopped 
and  went  about  seeing  things  after  lunch,  and  then  we 
went  to  the  hotel  where  he  was  staying.  We  were 
registered  there  as  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Blondin;  it  was  all 
quite  taken  for  granted." 


294  HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER 

Harriet  stopped;  her  face  was  drawn  and  white,  her 
words  coming  with  difficulty,  the  phrases  brief  and  dry. 
Richard  was  paying  her  absolute  attention,  his  eyes 
fixed  upon  her  face. 

"We  had  dinner  upstairs,"  she  said.  She  paused, 
her  lips  tight  pressed. 

"I  can't  tell  you,"  she  began  again,  suddenly,  "I  can't 
tell  you  how  it  was  that  I  came  suddenly  to  know  that  I 
was  too  young  for  marriage!  In  Miriam  Street's  little 
studio,  where  they  were  laughing  about  the  baby  and 
the  supper,  it  had  seemed  different.  But  here,  in  a 
hotel,  I  suddenly  wanted  my  sister,  I  wanted  to  be 
home  again. 

"We  were  talking  and  planning  naturally  enough. 
Royal  was  coming  and  going  in  the  two  rooms;  I  had 
plenty  of  chance  to — to  escape.  Every  time  I  let  one 
go  by  my  heart  beat  harder." 

He  could  tell  from  her  voice  that  her  heart  was 
beating  hard  now  with  the  memory  of  that  old 
time. 

"If  I  had  let  them  all  go  by,"  she  recommenced,  "my 
life  would  have  been  different.  In  a  few  weeks  we 
would  have  come  back  to  Watertown,  as  man  and  wife, 
and  perhaps  had  a  studio  near  the  Streets',  and  perhaps 
found  a  solution.  But  I  couldn't! 

"I  caught  up  my  coat;  left  my  hat  and  bag.  I  went 
down  the  stairs,  not  daring  to  wait  for  the  elevator. 
And  I  went  to  Mrs.  Harrington's.  She  was  very  kind 
and  took  me  in;  she  said  that  perhaps  it  would  be  better 
to  wait — until  I  was  older.  I  cried  all  night,  and  the 
next  day  Mrs.  Harrington  lent  me  the  money  and  I 
went  back  to  Linda. 


HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER  295 

"Of  course,  it  was  terrible,  at  first.  But  they  were 
kind  to  me,  in  their  way.  And  I  was — cured.  I  went 
into  hysterics  at  the  first  mention  of  the  whole  hideous 
thing.  They  saw  Roy,  and  they  told  me  that  I  need 
never  see  him  again.  The  papers — for  it  got  to  the 
papers! — said  that  a  divorce  had  been  arranged,  but 
there  was  no  need  for  a  divorce.  It  was  all  hushed  up — 
Linda  and  Fred  never  spoke  of  it.  I — ah,  well,  I 
couldn't! 

"  But  when  Fred's  brother,  David,  who  was  in  dental 
college  then,  began  to  like  me,  then  they  began  to  make 
light  of  it,"  Harriet  remembered.  "There  had  been  no 
marriage,  of  course,  either  in  law  or  in  fact.  They  all 
knew  that.  And  I  suppose  if  I  had  married  David  it 
might  have  been  happier  for  me.  But  as  it  was,  I  an- 
gered them.  I  didn't  want  to  marry  David.  And  so  it 
was  what  folly  girls  got  themselves  into — what  the  world 
thought  of  a  girl  who  had  been  'talked  about' — what 
the  least  breath  of  scandal  meant!" 

"And  you  went  back  to  Blondin  ? "  Richard  suggested. 

"I?  No,  I  never  saw  him  again  until  a  year  ago  in 
this  garden!"  Harriet  said. 

"You  never  saw  him  again!"  the  man  ejaculated. 

"Not  for  nine  years!" 

"But — my  God,  my  dear  girl,  he  spoke  of  you  as  his 
wife!"  Richard  said. 

"He  said  I  had  been.     Not  that  I  was  now!" 

The  man  looked  at  her,  looked  away  at  the  river,  and 
shrugged  his  shoulders  as  if  he  were  mystified  by  the 
ways  of  women. 

"But — you  were  never  his  wife?"  he  said,  flatly. 

"Oh,  no!     You   didn't  think,"   Harriet   said,    hurt, 


296  HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER 

"that  I  would  have  married  you,  or  any  one  else,  if  I 
had  been!" 

"You  let  him  blackmail  you  for  that,"  Richard 
further  marvelled. 

"I  knew — in  my  own  mind,  of  course,  that  I  was  not 
to  blame,"  the  girl  said,  anxiously.  "  But  it  sounded — 
horrible." 

Richard  bit  his  lower  lip,  looked  critically  at  his  racket, 
slowly  shook  his  head. 

"I  didn't  mind  what  any  one  thought,"  Harriet  said, 
reading  his  thought.  "But  they  did!" 

"They?"  Richard  repeated,  patiently. 

"Everyone,"  she  supplied,  promptly.  "Your  wife, 
your  mother,  Mary  Putnam!  Even  Mrs.  Tabor." 

"I  suppose  so!"  he  conceded,  after  a  pause.  And 
beneath  his  breath  he  added,  "Isabelle — Ida  Tabor!" 

His  tone  was  all  she  asked  of  exquisite  reassurance. 

"I  hoped  you  wouldn't!"  she  said,  standing  up  with 
clasped  hands  and  a  sudden  brightening  of  her  tired 
and  colourless  face.  "That's  what  I  tried  to  make 
myself  believe  you  would  feel!  I  wanted  so  to  leave 
it  all  behind.  I  thought  he  had  gone,  that  it  was  all 
over,  that  what  it  was  mattered  more  than  what  it 
sounded  like!  I  thought  I  could  save  Nina  better,  with 
what  I  knew,  than  any  one  else!  But  last  night,"  Har- 
riet added,  "proved  to  me  that  I  had  been  all  wrong. 
I've  been  so  worried,"  she  added,  with  utter  faith  in  his 
decision.  "I  don't  know  what  you  think  we  had  better 
do." 

For  a  full  minute  Richard  watched  her  in  silence. 
Then  he  said,  mildly: 

"About  Nina,  you  mean?" 


HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER  297 

"About  everything!"  Harriet  suddenly  laughed 
gaily,  like  a  child.  Life  seemed  once  more  straight  and 
pleasant  in  this  exquisite  June  morning;  she  felt  puz- 
zled, but  somehow  no  longer  afraid.  The  menacing 
horrors  of  all  the  years,  the  vague  uneasiness  that  she 
had  never  quite  dared  to  face,  were  fluttering  about  her 
awakening  spirit  like  Alice's  pack  of  cards. 

"Nina  will  come  into  line,"  her  father  said,  thought- 
fully, "she  doesn't  know  what  she  wants.  I  wish — I 
wish  he  loved  her!"  he  added,  with  a  faint  frown.  "I'll 
see  him  about  it  again.  We'll  take  her  to  Rio.  She'll 
get  over  it." 

"And —  "  Harriet  stopped,  and  began  again:  "And 
do  you  want  things  to  go  on  just  as  they  are?"  she 
asked. 

For  answer  Richard  smiled  at  her  in  silence. 

"No,"  he  said,  finally.  "I  can't  say  that  I  do.  I 
want  you  to  worry  less,  and  to  buy  yourself  some  new 
gowns,  and  to  begin  to  enjoy  life!  Shakespeare  had  you 
down  fine  when  he  talked  about  conscience  making 
cowards  of  us  all.  What  did  you  do  it  for?  A  young, 
capable,  good-looking  girl  scared  by  a  lot  of  old  women ! 
Now,  we'll  take  up  this  Nina  question,  later  on.  You'd 
better  go  up  and  get  yourself  some  coffee,  and  go  to 
bed  for  awhile.  Better  plan  to  be  in  town  for  a  day  or 
two,  for  you'll  both  need  clothes  for  the  steamer " 

"You're  very  kind,"  the  girl  said,  eyes  averted,  voice 
almost  inaudible.  They  were  both  standing  now, 
Harriet's  head  turned  aside,  so  that  he  could  not  see 
her  face,  but  her  soft  fingers  resting  in  his. 

"I'm  not  kind  at  all!"  Richard  said,  with  a  rather 
confused  laugh.  He  patted  her  hand  encouragingly. 


298  HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER 

"The  sea  trip  will  shake  both  you  and  Nina  up,  and  do 
you  a  world  of  good!"  he  said. 

"You  think —  "  Harriet  raised  the  soft,  dark  lashes, 
and  her  splendid,  weary  eyes  met  his,  "You  really  aren't 
worried  about  Nina?" 

And  she  tried  by  a  very  faint  stirring  of  her  fingers  to 
free  them,  and  finding  them  held,  dropped  her  eyes 
again. 

"I  think  I  have  Blondin's  number,"  Richard  said, 
with  more  force  than  eloquence.  Then  with  a  little 
laugh  that  was  partly  amused  and  partly  embarrassed, 
he  let  her  go. 

He  watched  the  young,  slender  figure  and  the  shining, 
bare  head  until  they  disappeared  among  the  great  trees 
about  the  house. 


CHAPTER  XX 

THE  summer  Sunday  ran  its  usual  course.  Ward  and 
his  sister  went  to  luncheon  at  the  club;  Madame  Carter 
drove  majestically  to  a  late  service  in  the  pretty,  vine- 
covered  village  church.  Harriet,  at  last  able  to  relax 
in  soul  and  body,  slept  hour  after  glorious  hour.  Rich- 
ard, returning  from  golf  for  a  late  luncheon,  asked  for 
her.  Mrs.  Carter  was  still  asleep,  Bottomley  assured 
him,  and  received  orders  not  to  disturb  her.  But  when 
Mr.  Blondin  called,  Richard  told  the  butler  he  was  to 
be  shown  to  the  terrace  at  once. 

At  three  o'clock,  therefore,  Royal  Blondin  followed 
his  guide  out  to  the  basket  chairs  that  were  set  under  the 
trees,  and  here  he  found  Richard,  comfortably  smoking, 
and  alone.  The  host  rose  to  greet  him,  but  they  did 
not  shake  hands,  and  measured  each  other  like  wrestlers 
as  they  sat  down. 

"I  had  your  message,"  Royal  said,  as  an  opening. 

"You've  not  seen  Nina  to-day?"  Nina's  father 
asked. 

"I  broke  an  engagement  with  her  at  the  club,"  the 
other  man  assured  him.  "We  will  probably  meet  at 
the  Bellamys',  at  dinner  this  evening." 

"Ah,  it  was  about  that  I  wished  to  speak."  Richard 
paused,  and  Blondin  watched  him  with  polite  interest. 
"You  have  held  your  knowledge  of  Mrs.  Carter  as  a 
sort  of  weapon  for  some  months,"  Richard  said, 

209 


300  HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER 

presently,  "to  use  it  when  you  saw  fit.     I  have  always 
been  in  my  wife's  confidence " 

He  paused,  but  for  no  reason  that  Blondin  could 
divine.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  it  gave  Richard  a  sudden 
and  unexpected  pleasure  to  speak  of  her  so,  to  realize 
that  he  really  might  give  the  most  wonderful  title  in 
the  world  to  this  beautiful  and  spirited  woman. 

"And  I  have  also  talked  with  Nina  this  morning," 
he  went  on.  "I  regret  to  say  that  her  intentions  have 
not  altered." 

"A  loyal  little  heart!"  Blondin  said,  gravely  and 
contentedly.  "I  knew  I  could  depend  upon  her!" 

Richard  looked  at  him  steadily  for  a  moment,  and 
felt  carefully  for  his  next  words. 

"You  know  how  I  feel  about  her  marrying  you 

he  began. 

Royal  nodded,  regretfully,  broke  the  ash  from  his 
cigarette  with  a  delicately  poised  little  finger,  and  re- 
garded Richard  questioningly.  "That  is  my  misfortune," 
he  said,  resignedly;  pleasantly  aware  that  Nina's  father 
would  never  be  his  match  in  phrases  and  self-control. 

"I  needn't  go  over  all  that,"  Richard  said.  "I  love 
my  daughter;  I  believe  she  will  make  a  fine  woman. 
But  she  isn't  anything  but  a  child  now!" 

"Perhaps  you  fail  to  do  her  justice  in  that  respect," 
Royal  Blondin  said.  Richard  flushed  with  anger,  but 
felt  helpless  under  the  other  man's  quiet  insolence. 

"I  said  I  wanted  to  see  you  on  business,  Mr. 
Blondin,"  Richard  continued,  trying  to  keep  impatience 
and  contempt  out  of  his  voice,  "and  we'll  keep  to 
business.  I  don't  know  what  your  circumstances  are, 
of  course " 


HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER  301 

He  hesitated,  and  Blondin  looked  at  him  with  a  faint 
interest. 

"I  live  simply,"  he  said.  "Nina's  money  will  be  all 
her  own." 

"Nina  will  have  no  money,  not  one  five-cent  piece, 
for  exactly  three  years!"  Richard  said. 

Blondin  shrugged. 

"She  is  quite  willing  to  try  it!"  he  reminded  her 
father. 

"I  know  she  is!  But  how  about  you?"  Richard 
asked.  "You  are  not  a  boy,  you  have  some  idea  of 
what  marriage  means.  For  three  years  you  must  take 
care  of  her,  dress  her,  amuse  her,  satisfy  her  that  she  has 
not  made  a  mistake.  Then  she  does  come  into  her 
money — yes.  But  three  years  is  a  long  time  in  which  to 
keep  her  certain  that  the  wisest  thing  she  can  do  is  turn 
it  over  to  you." 

He  paused;  Blondin  smoked  imperturbably. 

"The  marriage  must  be  a  notorious  one,  in  any  case," 
Richard  pursued.  "For  I  intend  to  make  my  stand  too 
clear  ever  to  permit  of  a  retraction.  I  shall  forbid  it — 
let  the  world  know  that  I  forbid  it.  I  shall  forbid  my 
daughter  the  house,  and  her  wedding  gift  will  be  simply 
the  clothes  she  happens  to  have.  From  Tuesday — her 
eighteenth  birthday — she  will  turn  to  you  for  her  actual 
pocket  money,  for  her  theatre  tickets  and  cab  fares." 

"I  understand  that  perfectly!"  Royal  said,  serenely. 
But  underneath,  while  not  moved  from  his  intention,  he 
felt  his  customary  assurance  shaken. 

"She  is  extravagant,  naturally,"  her  father  said. 
"She  will  want  new  gowns,  want  to  display  her  new 
importance  a  little.  Those  bills  will  come  to  you,  Mr. 


302  HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER 

Blondin.  All  the  world  will  know  as  well  as  you  do  that 
I  have  washed  my  hands  of  the  whole  affair." 

Royal  nodded  again.  He  began  to  be  conscious  of  a 
growing  disquietude.  He  had  naturally  given  much 
thought  to  this  exact  question  during  the  past  few 
weeks,  and  had  solved  it  only  by  dismissing  it.  He  had 
assured  himself  that  with  his  only  daughter  no  man  as 
generous  as  Carter  could  be  really  harsh,  and  had 
always  held  his  knowledge  of  Harriet  comfortably  in 
the  back  of  his  mind,  as  an  irresistible  lever.  Now 
both  these  considerations  were  losing  their  force,  and 
the  empty  satisfaction  of  defying  Richard  seemed  to  be 
losing  its  flavour,  too. 

Blondin  had  no  money,  and  lived  with  an  extrava- 
gance that  kept  him  perpetually  worried  for  money. 
The  rent  of  his  studio  had  been  raised;  he  was  con- 
scious of  the  necessity  of  returning  hospitalities,  of 
buying  clothes.  His  credit  would  receive  an  im- 
mediate assistance  from  a  marriage  with  Richard 
Carter's  daughter,  to  be  sure,  but  to  sustain  a  credit  for 
three  years  upon  that  shadowy  footing  would  be 
extremely  trying. 

He  liked  Nina;  despite  his  contempt  for  the  girl, 
there  was  a  certain  pitying  affection  for  her  stubborn 
loyalty  and  simplicity.  But  he  knew  exactly  what 
hideous  scenes  must  follow  upon  his  marriage  with  her. 
What  could  he  do  with  her,  even  suppose  him  to  have 
borrowed  money  enough  to  make  their  honeymoon  a 
success?  He  imagined  her  dawdling  about  his  studio, 
imagined  his  social  standing  as  necessarily  affected, 
imagined  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Royal  Blondin  attempting  to 
reach  an  agreement  as  to  which  invitations  would  be 


HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER  303 

accepted  and  which  rejected.  Railway  fares,  luncheons 
downtown,  all  these  cost  money — lots  of  money.  Nina 
would  want  to  entertain  "the  girls."  And  Royal  had 
at  present  several  serious  debts.  He  had  lost  money  on 
three  morning  lectures,  delightful  lectures  and  well- 
attended,  but  still  a  financial  loss.  He  had  been 
foolish  enough  to  lose  money  at  bridge,  at  the  Bellamys' 
a  week  ago,  and  young  Bellamy  was  carrying  his  check 
for  three  hundred  and  twelve  dollars,  drawn  upon  a 
bank  where  Royal  was  already  overdrawn.  Then 
there  was  an  unpleasantness  about  three  rugs,  rugs  he 
had  taken  four  years  ago,  in  a  moment  of  unbelievable 
prosperity,  but  for  which  seven  hundred  and  twenty 
dollars  had  been  promised,  and  never  paid.  Royal  had 
indeed  offered  Hagopian  the  rugs  and  a  bonus,  back 
again;  he  was  sick  of  the  studio,  and  the  endless  re- 
minders from  his  landlord's  agent  that  the  monthly  one 
hundred  and  seventy-five  dollars  was  overdue;  he  was 
sick  of  the  whole  business. 

But  Hagopian  had  refused  to  take  back  the  rugs,  and 
the  rent  had  reached  the  four-figure  mark,  and  until  he 
had  settled  for  the  last  lectures,  he  did  not  feel  en- 
couraged to  begin  more. 

This  was  not  a  cheerful  outlook  with  which  to  begin 
three  years  of  penniless  matrimony.  Royal,  suavely 
smiling,  and  smoking  on  the  terrace,  wondered  suddenly 
if  old  Madame  Carter,  who  had  always  been  his  cham- 
pion, would  help  out. 

But  Richard  seemed  to  read  his  thought. 

"Nina  has  appealed  to  her  grandmother,"  he  said, 
"and  I  know  my  mother  sympathizes,  and  would  be 
glad  to  help  you.  But  her  affairs  are  in  my  hands. 


304  HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER 

She  preferred  it  so,  when  I  offered  her  some  securities 
years  ago,  and  it  has  always  been  so.  Her  bank  ac- 
count receives  a  monthly  check;  she  sends  all  her 
household  bills  to  my  secretary,  Fox.  He  O.  K's  and 
pays  them.  Consequently,  she  is  not  able  to  act  in  this 
matter,  and  I  think  she  is  glad  of  it!  I  believe  she 
would  regret  the — the  inevitable  estrangement  as  much 
as  I." 

Blondin  elevated  his  eyebrows  politely,  as  one 
interested  but  not  concerned.  But  he  knew,  with  a 
sort  of  rage,  that  he  was  beaten.  His  only  recourse 
now  would  be  to  plead  to  Nina  an  all-important  wire 
from  the  Pacific  coast,  a  dying  friend,  a  temporary 
absence.  He  could  sub-let  his  studio  for  twice  the 
rent,  and  live  on  the  margin  until  kindly  Fate,  as 
always,  turned  up  a  new  card.  Nina  would  protest, 
would  weep  that  her  beloved  studio,  where  her  first 
exciting  housekeeping  was  to  begin,  was  occupied  by 
strangers,  but  that  was  unavoidable.  However,  he 
would  annoy  this  gray-eyed,  firm-lipped  business  man 
first. 

But  Richard  had  taken  a  small  slip  of  tan  paper  from 
his  pocket,  and  was  studying  it  thoughtfully.  Royal 
saw  it,  and  his  eyes  narrowed. 

"Now,  Mr.  Blondin,"  Nina's  father  said,  simply, 
"I'm  a  business  man.  I  can't  beat  about  the  bush,  and 
call  things  by  pretty  names.  I  want  a  favour  of  you, 
and  I'm  willing  to  pay  for  it.  I  telephoned  you  this 
morning  that  I  wanted  to  see  you  on  a  matter  of 
business.  This  is  my  proposition." 

He  leaned  forward,  and  Royal  saw  the  paper.  He 
boasted  to  women  of  his  indifference  to  money,  it  was 


HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER  305 

true,  but  as  with  all  adventurers,  it  held  first  place  in  his 
thoughts.  No  man  who  was  in  debt  could  look  upon 
that  check  unmoved.  Royal  might  win  at  cards  to- 
night, to  be  sure;  Carter  might  weaken  to-morrow,  it 
was  true.  But  this  check  bore  his  name,  and  it  was 
sure. 

To  enter  the  bank,  with  Richard  Carter's  check  for 
so  substantial  an  amount,  to  deposit  it,  exchange  a 
careless  word  with  the  cashier,  to  write  his  check  for 
the  overdue  rent,  with  a  casual  apology;  to  play  bridge 
again,  this  evening,  with  young  Bellamy,  and  this  time 
win  back  that  accursed  check  of  his  own,  as  he  knew 
he  would  win  it.  ... 

It  all  fluttered  before  his  eyes,  despite  his  attempt  to 
look  indifferent.  It  weighed  down  the  little  tarnished 
thing  he  called  his  pride,  already  half-forfeited  in  this 
group.  His  last  attempt  at  bravado  was  obviously 
that,  and  he  knew  it. 

"Just  one  moment,  Mr.  Carter.  You  say  that  you 
and  I  know  what  marriage  is.  How  do  you  reconcile 
it  with  your  knowledge  of  Nina,  your  knowledge  of  her 
upbringing,  to  plan  deliberately  what  would  make  our 
marriage — or  any  marriage — foredoomed  to  failure 
from  the  start?  I  didn't  spoil  Nina,  I  didn't  form  her 
tastes.  She  has  thought  of  herself  as  an  heiress,  she 
has  spent  money,  lived  luxuriously.  I  only  ask  a  fair 
chance..  Make  it  an  allowance,  if  you  like.  Keep  the 
matter  in  the  family;  don't  blaze  to  the  world  that  you 
disapprove!  Many  a  less-promising  marriage  has 
turned  out  a  brilliant  success.  She  loves  me.  I — 
I  am  devoted  to  her.  I  see  tremendous  possibilities 
in  her!'* 


306  HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER 

"She  loves  you  as  a  child  does,  and  because  she 
doesn't  know  you,"  Richard  said,  inflexibly.  "  But  you 
haven't  heard  what  I  propose,  Blondin.  Hear  me  out. 
I  give  you  this  now,  to-day,  on  condition  that  before 
to-night  you  talk  to  Nina.  Represent  anything  you 
wish  to  her.  Tell  her  what  you  please.  But  convince 
her  that  she  must  wait  for  two  years — with  no  letters,  no 
meetings,  no  engagement — that's  all. 

"On  my  part,  I  promise  that  nobody  in  the  world,  not 
Mrs.  Carter,  not  anybody,  will  hear  of  this  for  two 
years  from  to-day,  at  least.  Meanwhile,  we'll  amuse 
Nina.  Her  grandmother  wants  to  take  her  to  Santa 
Barbara  next  fall — Gardiner  wants  both  the  youngsters 
on  his  ranch  this  summer,  or  she  may  go  with  me  to 
Brazil.  She'll  have  enough  to  think  about.  We'll  not 
hurt  you  with  her,  you  may  take  my  word  for  it.  And 
I  tell  you  frankly  that  I  shall  be  deeply  grateful.  I'm 
not  paying  you  for  giving  her  up.  I'm  paying  you  for 
two  years'  delay.  Young  Hopper  will  be  at  the 
Gardiners'  this  summer — she  likes  him,  and  he  likes 
her!  Well,  that's  speculation."  Richard  dismissed  it 
with  a  movement  of  his  fine  hands.  "But  we'll  dis- 
tract her!"  he  promised.  "Hopper  may  buy  a  ranch 
out  there — that  sort  of  thing  might  suit  Nina  down  to 
the  ground!" 

"Buy  it  with  Nina's  money,"  Royal  could  not  help 
sneering. 

Richard  eyed  him  in  surprise. 

"When  Joe  Hopper  died  he  left  that  boy's  mother 
something  in  the  millions,"  he  said.  "There's  an 
immense  estate."  And  then,  with  a  reversion  to 
business:  "Come,  now,  Mr.  Blondin.  We  under- 


HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER  307 

stand  each  other.  Nina's  dining  at  the  Bellamys'  to- 
night ;  you're  staying  there.  Will  you  see  her  ? " 

The  check  fluttered  to  the  table  between  them. 
There  was  a  long  silence.  Then  Blondin  ground  out 
his  cigarette  in  a  stone  saucer,  rose,  in  all  the  easy 
beauty  of  his  white  summer  clothes,  his  flowing  scarf, 
his  dark,  romantic  locks.  He  lifted  his  straw  hat,  put 
it  on,  picked  up  his  stick,  and  laid  it  on  the  table.  Then 
he  took  the  check  and  read  it  thoughtfully. 

"Thank  you!"  he  said.  Yet  the  shameful  thing 
struck  him,  an  adept  now  in  evading  and  lying,  as 
surprisingly  easy,  and  as  he  sauntered  away  in  the  June 
warmth  and  silence,  it  was  not  of  Nina,  or  her  father,  or 
even  of  himself  that  he  was  thinking. 

He  had  met  the  widow  of  Joe  Hopper  a  few  nights 
ago :  a  faded  little  pleasant  woman  of  fifty,  pathetically 
grateful  for  his  casual  politeness  in  her  strangeness  and 
shyness.  He  had  chanced,  quite  idly  and  accidentally, 
to  make  an  impression  on  her.  She  had  promised  to 
come  to  the  studio  and  look  at  his  rugs. 

Royal  wondered  why  she  dressed  so  badly;  she 
needed  simple  materials  and  flowing  lines.  He  heard 
himself  telling  her  so. 

Richard  sat  on,  on  the  terrace,  thinking,  and  presently 
his  mother  came  out  and  joined  him.  Wasn't  he,  the 
old  lady  asked  elaborately,  going  to  the  club  ?  It  was 
almost  five  o'clock,  her  son  reminded  her.  Two  or 
three  of  his  business  associates  were  coming  to  dinner; 
Hansen  was  to  drive  them  all  into  the  city  later.  Now, 
he  just  felt  lazy. 

"No  tea  to-day?"  he  asked,  presently.     People  usu- 


308  HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER 

ally  went  to  the  club  on  Sunday,  said  his  mother.  She 
added,  irrelevantly,  that  Harriet  was  asleep.  Richard 
said  that  she  had  looked  tired  this  morning;  sleep  was 
the  best  thing  for  her. 

But  suddenly  life  became  significant  and  thrilling 
again;  he  heard  her  voice,  her  laugh.  She  came  swiftly 
and  quietly  out  to  them,  smiling  at  him,  settling  herself 
in  the  chair  beside  his  mother.  She  wore  white, 
transparent,  simple;  there  were  coral  beads  about  her 
firm  young  throat.  The  dew  of  her  deep  sleep  made 
her  blue  eyes  wonderful;  her  cheeks  were  as  pink  as  a 
baby's. 

"Aren't  the  June  days  delicious  ? "  she  said.  Richard 
studied  her,  smilingly,  without  answering.  What 
would  she  say  next,  where  would  she  move  her  eyes,  or 
lay  her  white  hand,  he  wondered.  When  she  mur- 
mured to  his  mother  in  an  undertone,  he  tried  to  catch 
the  words. 

"We're  to  have  tea,"  Harriet  announced.  When  it 
came,  she  poured  it;  for  awhile  the  three  were  alone. 
Richard  found  himself  talking  to  make  her  talk,  but  she 
was  apparently  interested  only  to  draw  out  his  mother 
and  himself.  "I'm  starving,"  she  presently  said, 
apologetically,  "this  is  luncheon  and  breakfast,  too,  for 
me!" 

"Did  you  have  a  good  sleep?"  Richard  asked.  She 
flashed  him  an  eloquent  look. 

"Oh — the  most  delightful  of  my  whole  life!  Eight 
hours  without  stirring!" 

The  Hoyts  arrived:  a  handsome  mother  and  two 
equally  handsome  daughters.  Harriet  went  to  them 
gracefully;  Richard  saw  that  she  was  accepting  good 


HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER  309 

wishes.  She  took  the  callers  to  his  mother,  and  filled 
their  cups  herself. 

"She  certainly  is  wonderful!"  Richard  said.  He 
perfectly  realized  his  own  suddenly  deepening  feeling 
for  her,  but  he  dared  not  analyze  it  yet.  When  Mrs. 
Hoyt  hinted  at  a  dinner,  he  took  part  in  the  conversa- 
tion. "Thursday?  Why  not,  Harriet?  We  have  no 
engagement  for  Thursday?" 

She  flushed  brightly,  signalling  to  him  that  she  had 
already  indicated  an  excuse.  They  had  never  dined 
together  away  from  home.  He  need  not  think,  said 
Harriet's  anxious  manner,  that  he  need  carry  the 
appearance  of  marriage  so  far. 

"But — but  aren't  Nina  and  I  to  be  in  town  Thurs- 
day ?  '*  she  ventured. 

"Shopping.  You  can  make  that  next  week!" 
Richard  said.  He  loved  her  confusion. 

"Then  we  surely  will!  Thank  you,"  she  said  to 
Mrs.  Hoyt. 

"Thursday,  then,  at  eight ! "  the  caller  said,  departing. 
Richard  sauntered  with  them  to  their  car,  and  returned 
to  find  Harriet  half-scandalized,  half-laughing. 

"  But  do  you  want  to  dine  with  them  ? "  she  asked. 

"Why  not?"  His  smile  challenged  her,  and  she 
laughed  hardily. 

"I  suppose  there  is  no  reason  why  not,  Mr.  Carter!" 

"You  can  wear" — he  gestured — "the  black  and 
goldy  thing.  They'll  all  be  watching  you ! " 

"Oh,"  she  said,  considering  earnestly,  "I  have  a  much 
handsomer  one  than  that.  Blue  and  silver.  You've 
not  seen  it." 

"Blue   and   silver,   then."     Richard   felt   a   distinct 


310  HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER 

regret  when  the  men  he  expected  appeared.  There 
was  but  one  figure  of  any  interest  to  him  on  the  shady, 
flower-scented  terrace,  and  that  was  a  woman's  figure 
in  a  white  gown. 

For  two  or  three  days  he  was  conscious  of  a  constant 
interest  in  her  appearances  and  disappearances,  a 
constant  desire  to  please  her.  He  found  himself  liking 
a  certain  young  man,  in  his  city  club,  for  no  other 
reason  than  that  he  had  asked  admiringly  for  Mrs. 
Carter.  He  found  Harriet  deeply  interested  in  a  book, 
and  took  the  time  to  go  into  a  bookstore  and  ask  the 
clerk  for  something  "on  the  same  line  as  the  Poulteney 
Letters."  In  Nina's  old  Kodak  album,  idly  opened,  he 
was  suddenly  held  by  pictures  of  Nina's  governess, 
beautiful  even  in  a  bathing-suit,  with  dripping  hair; 
lovely  in  the  gipsy  hats  and  short  skirts  of  camp  life. 

Richard  Carter  was  conscious  of  one  mastering 
curiosity:  he  wanted  to  know  just  how  Harriet  regarded 
him.  It  seemed  suddenly  of  supreme  importance.  He 
thought  of  it  in  his  office,  and  smiled  to  himself  during 
important  business  conferences,  wondering  about  it. 
It  seemed  incredible  to  him,  now,  that  his  experiences  of 
the  past  year  had  been  so  largely  concerned  with  Harriet. 
His  wife's  companion,  his  daughter's  governess,  his 
own  capable  and  dignified  housekeeper,  the  woman 
he  had  so  hastily  married,  all  seemed  a  different  person, 
a  quite  visionary  person,  with  whom  just  such  business- 
like arrangements  had  been  possible. 

But  Harriet  was  beginning  to  seem  to  him  a  stranger 
who  possessed  at  once  the  most  mysterious  and  child- 
like, the  most  beautiful  and  the  most  baffling  personality 
that  he  had  ever  known.  He  made  excuses  to  go  home 


HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER  311 

early,  just  to  catch  glimpses  of  this  wife  who  was  not 
his  wife.  That  he  had  ever  taken  a  fatherly,  advisory 
tone  with  this  woman  was  unbelievable;  her  mere  ap- 
proach made  him  catch  his  breath  and  lose  his  coherency. 
He  had  walked  into  her  room — he  had  patronized  her — 
he  had  asked  her  as  casually  to  marry  him  as  if  she 
had  been  fifty,  and  as  plain  as  she  was  lovely! 

Richard  shuddered  as  he  thought  of  it.  He  made 
constant  efforts  to  engage  her  in  personalities,  but  she 
evaded  him.  There  was  a  real  thrill  for  him  in  the 
quiet  dinner  at  the  Hoyts'.  Mrs.  Carter,  said  slow  old 
bewhiskered  John  Hoyt,  was  an  extremely  pretty 
woman.  My  wife — Richard  in  answering  called  her 
that — looks  particularly  well  in  an  evening  gown. 
Indeed  she  looked  exquisite  in  the  blue  and  silver  dress, 
laughing — still  with  that  adorable  mist  of  strangeness  and 
shyness  about  her — with  her  neighbours  at  the  table,  and 
afterward  in  the  drawing  room,  waving  her  silver 
fan  slowly  while  Freda  Hoyt,  who  quite  obviously 
adored  her,  whispered  her  long  confidences. 

Coming  home  in  the  limousine  they  had  neighbours 
with  them,  old  Doctor  and  Mrs.  Carmichael,  so  he 
might  not  have  the  word  alone  with  her  for  which  he  had 
been  longing  all  evening.  But  he  stopped  her  in  the 
wide,  dim  hallway  when  they  reached  Crownlands. 

"Tired?"  he  said,  at  the  foot  of  the  stairs. 

"Not  a  bit!"  There  was  an  enchanting  vitality 
about  her.  She  had  slipped  the  thin  wrap  from  her 
shoulders,  and  she  turned  to  him  her  lovely,  happy 
face.  "Did  you  want  me?" 

"I  wanted  to  say  something  to  you,"  Richard  said, 
feeling  awkward  as  a  boy. 


312  HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER 

"In  there?"  She  nodded,  suddenly  alert,  toward  the 
library. 

"Why  in  there?"  he  asked,  with  a  little  husky  laugh. 
His  one  impulse  was  to  put  his  arms  about  her. 

"I  thought — bills,  perhaps?"  Harriet  said,  innocently. 
It  was  the  third  day  of  the  month;  he  had  often 
consulted  her  as  to  expenses  before  this. 

"No,"  Richard  said,  with  another  unsteady  little 
laugh.  "It  wasn't  bills.  I  was  just  wondering — if  I 
had  been  very  stupid,"  he  said,  taking  one  of  her 
hands,  and  looking  up  from  the  fingers  that  lay  in  his 
to  the  face  that  now  wore  an  expression  a  little 
frightened  despite  the  smile. 

"Never  with  me ! "  Harriet  said,  in  a  low  tone. 

"Never  so  blind,"  Richard  said,  "never  so  matter- 
of-fact  that  I  hurt  your  feelings?  Nothing  of — that 
sort?" 

"Always  the  kindest  friend  I  ever  had!"  the  girl 
answered,  unsteadily,  and  with  suddenly  wet  eyes. 
"The — the  most  generous!" 

He  looked  at  her  hand  again,  looked  up  at  her  as  if  he 
would  speak.  But  instead  she  felt  her  fingers  pressed, 
and  felt  her  heart  thump  with  a  delicious  terror. 

"Do — do  you  like  the  blue  and  silver  dress? "she 
asked  with  an  excited  laugh. 

"I  like  it  better  than  any  dress  I  have  ever  seen!n 
Richard  answered,  seriously.  Her  hand  free  now, 
Harriet,  standing  on  the  lowest  step,  made  him  a  little 
bow  that  displayed  the  frail  silver  fan,  the  silver 
slippers,  the  stockings  with  their  silver  lace. 

"And  wait  until  you  see  our  frocks  for  the  boat!"  she 
warned  him.  "Nina  has  a  yellow  coat — and  I  have  a 


HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER  313 

black  lace  and  a  white  embroidery!  Really — really  I 
have  never  seen  anything  like  the  white  one.  Sheer, 
you  know— 

Bottomley  came  noiselessly,  discreetly,  across  the 
hall.  Instantly  the  woman  in  blue  and  silver  was  all 
the  mistress. 

"Is  Mr.  Ward  in,  Bottomley?" 

"He  dined  at  'ome,  Mrs.  Carter." 

"Oh,  thank  you!  You  may  lock  up,  then.  Good- 
night, Mr.  Carter!  Good-night,  Bottomley!" 

She  was  gone.  The  blue  and  silver  gown  and  the 
bunched  folds  of  the  furred  coat  vanished  on  the 
stairway  landing.  The  tall  clock  that  she  passed 
struck  eleven.  And  Richard,  going  into  his  library, 
realized  that  he  was  deeply  and  passionately  in  love. 
He  could  think  of  nothing  else — he  did  not  wish  to. 
think  of  anything  else.  Her  face  came  between  him 
and  his  book,  her  voice  loitered  in  his  ears,  her  precise, 
pretty  phrasing,  the  laughter  that  sometimes  lurked 
beneath  her  tones. 

He  went  upstairs,  and  to  his  own  suite.  There  was  a 
door  between  his  own  sitting  room  and  the  room  that 
had  been  Isabelle's.  From  the  other  side  of  his  door, 
to-night,  came  the  murmur  of  voices:  Harriet  and 
Nina  were  talking.  Their  conversation  seemed  full  of 
fascination  to  Richard,  although  he  could  not  hear  a 
word,  and  would  not  have  made  an  effort  to  do  so.  But 
he  liked  the  thought  of  this  lovely  woman  near  his  little 
girl,  of  their  conferences  and  confidences. 

Next  day  Harriet  told  him  that  Nina  had  been  talking 
of  young  Hopper. 


314  HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER 

"It  seems  that  this  awkward,  tongue-tied  youth  is 
desperately  enamoured  of  Rosa  Artures,  of  the  Metro- 
politan Opera  Company,"  Harriet  said  in  rich  amuse- 
ment. "Of  course  the  Artures  is  forty-five,  and  has  a 
domestic  life  that  is  the  delight  of  the  women's  mag- 
azines. But  poor  little  Hopper  haunts  her  perfor- 
mances, and  sends  her  orchids,  just  the  same.  He 
had  never  met  her  until  a  week  or  two  ago,  then  some 
friends  had  her  and  her  husband  on  their  yacht,  and 
he  was  there.  And  she  ate,  it  seems,  and  laughed,  and 
even  drank  a  little  too  much — he's  entirely  disil- 
lusioned! Isn't  it  too  bad?  And  somebody  told  me 
about  it,  so  I  encouraged  Nina  to  get  him  to  talk  last 
night.  They  talked  only  too  well!  They  exchanged 
tragedies." 

"Well,  that  won't  hurt  her!"  Richard  said,  thought- 
fully. 

"Hurt  her!"  Harriet  answered,  eagerly.  "It  will  be 
the  best  thing  in  the  world  for  her!" 

They  were  at  the  country  club;  Harriet  chaperoning 
Nina,  who  was  down  at  the  tennis  court  with  a  group  of 
young  persons;  Richard  breathless  and  happy  from  a 
hard  game  of  eighteen  holes.  He  had  encountered  her 
on  the  porch,  on  his  way  to  the  showers,  experiencing, 
as  he  did  so,  the  thrill  that  belongs  only  to  the  un- 
expected encounter.  Now  they  loitered  at  the  railing, 
in  the  shade  of  the  green  awnings,  as  entirely  oblivious 
of  watching  eyes  as  if  the  clubhouse  were  the  library  at 
home. 

"Nina  is  charming  as  a  confidante,"  Harriet  said, 
"and  she  would  make  a  boy  of  that  type  a  delightful 
wife.  She  is  the  sort  that  marries  early,  or  not  at  all. 


HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER  315 

and  I'm  going  deliberately  to  encourage  this  affair  in  a 
quiet  way.  He's  a  dear  fellow,  domestic  and  shy; 
they'd  love  their  home  and  their  children  and  Nina 
would  develop  into  the  ideal  wife  and  mother.  She's 
discriminating,  she  makes  nice  friends,  she  has  splendid 
French  and  Spanish.  She  looks  lovely  to-day;  I 
persuaded  her  to  leave  her  glasses  at  home,  even  if  she 
did  miss  them  a  little,  and  she  has  on  one  of  the  gowns 
we  bought  for  the  Brazilian  trip." 

"  I  made  the  reservations  to-day.  We  sail  the  third  of 
August,"  Richard  said.  "We've  got  to  have  your 
pictures  taken  for  the  passports." 

"South  America!"  Harriet  gave  a  great  sigh  of  joy. 
"You  don't  know  how  excited  I  am!"  she  said.  "Three 
weeks  on  a  big  liner — and  we  have  to  have  bathing-suits, 
somebody  said  for  the  canvas  tank,  and  they  have  all 
sorts  of  things  on  board.  I've  always  wanted  to  go 
to  Rio!" 

"There  are  eight  big  staterooms  with  baths  on  this 
liner,"  Richard  said.  "I've  taken  two  adjoining  ones, 
so  we  ought  to  be  very  comfortable.  Yes,"  he  con- 
ceded, enjoying  her  enthusiasm,  "it  ought  to  be  a  great 
trip!  Will  you  and  Nina  want  a  maid?" 

"A  maid?"  She  widened  her  blue  eyes.  "Oh,  no! 
Why  should  we?" 

Richard  laughed  at  her  surprise. 

"You  might  take  Pilgrim,"  he  suggested.  And  with 
an  amused  glance  he  added:  "You  forget  that  you  are  a 
rich  man's  wife." 

"Indeed  I  don't!"  Harriet  said,  quickly.  "I  spend 
simply  scandalous  sums!  When  I  saw  my  sister  last 
week,"  she  confided,  gaily,  "she  explained  that  the  pay- 


316  HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER 

ment  on  the  new  house  would  prevent  the  usual  six  weeks 
at  the  beach  this  year,  and  I  simply  made  them  go!  I 
paid  the  rent  on  their  cottage  and  bought  the  tickets, 
and — oh,  all  sorts  of  things,  little  dresses  and  sandals 
and  shade  hats,  and  off  they  went!  You  never  saw 
such  joy!" 

Richard  blinked  his  eyes,  and  managed  a  smile. 

"What  did  you  pay  it  out  of?"  he  wondered. 

"My  bank  account!  Linda  and  I  shopped  a  whole 
morning,  and  had  lunch  downtown — it  was  more  fun!" 
Harriet  said,  youthfully.  "The  rent,"  she  explained, 
"was  eighty  dollars " 

"What?     For  six  weeks!"  Richard  interrupted. 

"Do  you  think  that's  a  lot?"  she  asked,  anxiously. 

"Go  on!"  he  said.  "They  all  went  off,  did  they? 
Eighty  dollars  gives  them  a  cottage  until  the  middle  of 
August,  does  it?" 

"Until  school  opens,"  she  nodded.  "All  the  other 
things — well,  it  came  to  about  two  hundred." 

"That's  happiness,  isn't  it?"  Richard  said.  "A 
cottage  on  a  swarming  beach.  Sons  and  daughters  in 
bathing-suits,  no  real  housekeeping  for  the  mother, 
nothing  but  sleep  and  swimming  and  plain  meals!" 

"They  love  it!"  But  Harriet's  eyes  drank  in  the 
awninged  shade  of  the  country  club  porches,  the 
flowered  cretonne  on  the  wicker  chairs,  the  women  in 
their  exquisite  gowns,  the  smooth  curves  of  the  green 
links,  where  brightly  clad  figures  went  to  and  fro. 
Riders  were  disappearing  into  the  green  shade  of  the 
bridle  paths;  girls  in  white,  demanding  tea,  came  up  the 
shallow  steps.  A  group  of  four  women,  at  a  card  table, 
broke  up  with  laughter.  "Yes,  it's  honester  than  this," 


HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER  317 

she  said,  bringing  her  eyes  back  to  his.  "  I'll  have  Linda 
and  the  girls  here  some  day,"  she  added,  "and  they'll 
think  it  is  wonderful.  But  after  all,  they  get  more 
taste  out  of  life!" 

"You  know  they  do!"  Richard  said. 

"Mrs.  Carter,"  said  a  woman  in  bright  yellow,  coming 
up  to  them  suddenly,  "will  you  be  a  darling  and  come 
and  talk  to  my  French  officer?  The  girls  have  all  been 
practising  their  Berlitz  on  him,  and  he's  almost  losing  his 
mind!  Dick,"  added  this  matron,  who  had  linked  her 
arm  about  Harriet's  waist,  "for  heaven's  sake  go  clean 
up!  Can't  you  find  time  to  talk  to  your  wife  at  home? 
I've  been  watching  you  for  five  minutes,  getting  my 
arms  burned  simply  black — will  you  come,  Mrs.  Carter? 
That's  the  poor  soul,  over  there  with  Sarah.  I  don't 
know  why  I've  had  a  French  governess  for  that  girl  for 
seven  years!" 

"To  save  the  life  of  a  fellow  creature "  Harriet  said 

in  her  liquid  French.  She  went  off,  laughingly,  in  the 
other  woman's  custody;  Richard  looked  after  them  a 
moment. 

He  saw  them  join  the  group  of  smiling  girls  and  ths 
harassed  Frenchman;  saw  the  alien's  face  brighten  as 
Harriet  was  introduced.  A  moment  later  a  boy  with  a 
tennis  racket  dashed  up  to  them,  and  there  was  a  scat- 
tering in  the  direction  of  the  courts.  The  girls  sur- 
rounded the  boy,  and  streamed  away  chattering.  The 
matron  in  yellow  came  back  to  her  card  table.  And 
Harriet,  unfurling  her  parasol,  deep  in  conversation  with 
the  captured  soldier,  sauntered  slowly  after  the  tennis 
players.  The  afternoon  sunshine  sent  clean  shadows 
across  the  clipped  grass;  the  stretched  blue  silk  of  Har- 


318  HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER 

net's  parasol  threw  a  mellow  orange  light  upon  her 
tawny  hair  and  saffron-coloured  gown. 

Richard  had  a  child's  desperate  wish  that  he  was 
dressed,  and  might  run  after  them. 

"They  are  playing  the  semi-finals,"  he  said  to  him- 
self, hurrying  through  his  change  of  garments.  "I  wish 
to  the  Lord  I  had  gotten  through  in  time  to  get  down 
there!" 

But  it  was  not  at  the  tennis  that  he  looked,  twenty 
minutes  later,  when  he  reached  the  courts;  although  a 
brilliant  play  was  being  made,  and  there  was  a  spatter- 
ing of  applause.  His  eyes  instantly  found  Harriet's 
figure;  she  was  still  talking  to  the  Frenchman,  whose 
olive  face  was  glowing  with  interest  and  admiration, 
and  not  more  than  eight  inches,  Richard  thought,  from 
her  own.  Harriet's  own  face  wore  the  shadow  of  a 
smile,  her  lashes  were  dropped,  and  she  was  gently  push- 
ing the  point  of  her  closed  parasol  into  the  green  turf. 
The  chairs  in  which  they  sat  had  been  slightly  turned 
from  the  court. 

Richard  engaged  himself  in  conversation  with  two  or 
three  men  and  women  who  were  watching  the  young- 
sters' game,  and  presently  found  himself  applauding  his 
son  for  a  brilliant  ace.  But  after  perhaps  five  minutes 
he  walked  quite  without  volition,  straight  to  Harriet's 
neighbourhood,  and  she  rose  at  once,  introduced  her 
new  friend,  and  with  a  glance  at  her  wrist,  announced 
that  she  must  go. 

"Ward  said  he  would  drive  me  home  the  instant  it 
was  over,"  said  Harriet,  clapping  heartily  for  the 
triumphant  finish  of  the  set. 


HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER.  319 

"I'll  drive  you  home!"  Richard  said,  instantly.  "I've 
the  small  car." 

"Friday  night!"  Harriet  smiled.  For  Friday  night 
was  the  night  for  a  men's  dinner  and  poker  game  at  the 
country  club,  and  Richard  usually  liked  to  be  there. 

"I  can  come  back!"  he  persisted,  suddenly  caring 
more  for  this  concession  than  anything  else  in  the  world. 
Without  another  word  she  agreed,  bade  her  Frenchman 
what  seemed  to  Richard  a  voluble  good-bye,  and  when 
the  bowing  officer  disappeared  turned  with  a  reminiscent 
smile. 

"And  now  what?" 

"Where  did  you  learn  to  chatter  French  that  way?" 
Richard  said,  leading  the  way  to  the  line  of  parked 
motors. 

"Oh,  we  lived  in  Paris — old  Mrs.  Rogers  and  I," 
Harriet  reminded  him  carelessly.  And  reaching  the 
little  rise  of  ground  that  lay  between  the  clubhouse 
and  the  parking  field,  she  stood  still,  looking  off  across 
the  exquisite  spread  of  fields  and  valleys,  banded  by 
great  strips  of  woods,  and  flooded  now  by  the  streaming 
shadows  and  golden  lights  of  the  late  afternoon.  "What 
a  day!"  she  said,  filling  her  lungs  with  great  breaths  of 
the  sweet  air.  "What  an  hour!" 

"What  I  meant  to  say  to  you  up  there  on  the  porch/* 
Richard  said,  "when  that — that  woman  interrupted ' 

Harriet  herself  interrupted  with  a  laugh. 

"You  say  'that  woman'  as  if  it  was  a  bitter,  deadly 
curse!"  she  said. 

"Well "  They  had  reached  the  car  now,  and 

Richard  was  investigating  the  oil  gauge  and  spark  plugs 
under  the  hood.  "Well,  a  woman  like  that  breaks  in — 


320  HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER 

nothing. to  her!"  he  said  with  scorn,  straightening 
up. 

"Yes,  but  at  a  country  club?"  Harriet  offered, 
placatingly,  as  she  got  into  the  front  seat,  and  tucked 
the  pongee  robe  snugly  about  the  saffron-coloured 
gown. 

"I  suppose  so!"  He  got  in  beside  her;  there  was  a 
moment  of  backing  and  wrenching  before  they  glided 
out  smoothly  on  the  white  driveway.  "What  I  meant 
to  say  was  this,"  he  added,  suddenly,  with  a  sidewise 
glance  from  his  wheel.  "I — I  want  you  to  realize  that 
I  appreciate  the  injustice — the  crudeness  of  my  rushing 
to  you  in  New  Jersey  that  Christmas  Day.  I  realize 
that  we  all  have  imposed  on  you — we've  taken  you  too 
much  for  granted!  I  was  in  trouble,  and  I  couldn't 
think  of  any  other  way  out  of  it.  But  for  any  man  to 
put  a  proposition  like  that  to  any  woman " 

They  were  driving  very  slowly.  He  looked  at  her 
again,  and  met  a  wondering  look  in  her  beautiful  eyes 
that  still  further  confused  him.  He  had  been  un- 
comfortably conscious  of  an  odd  confusion  in  touching 
upon  this  subject  at  all.  Yet  his  mind  had  been  full  of 
it  all  day. 

"I  never  felt  it  so,  I  assure  you!"  Harriet  said  with 
her  lucid,  friendly  look.  Richard  felt  that  there  was 
more  to  say,  but  realized  that  he  had  selected  an  un- 
fortunate time  for  these  confidences. 

"I'm  afraid  I've  been  extremely  stupid  in  the  mat- 
ter," he  said,  feeling  for  his  words.  "I've  gone  about  it 

clumsily.  To  tell  you  the  truth What  does  that  boy 

want?" 

It  was  Ward  who  was  coming  toward  them  across  the 


HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER  321 

green,  with  great  springs  and  leaps,  like  some  mountain 
animal. 

"Give  us  a  lift!"  shrieked  Ward,  flinging  himself 
upon  the  car  as  its  speed  decreased.  "Something  is  the 
matter  with  my  engine — engina  pectoris  is  what  I  call 
it!  Father,  Mr.  Tom  Grant  expects  you  to  dine  at  his 
table  to-night,  he  said  to  remind  you.  And,  Harriet, 
angel  of  angels,  we  will  be  about  six  or  seven  about  the 
groaning  board;  is  that  all  right?" 

"  I  told  Bottomley  six  or  seven, "Harriet  said, serenely. 
"Ward,  get  in  or  get  out,"  she  added,  maternally,  "don't 
hang  over  the  door  in  that  blood-curdling  way!" 

She  had  put  her  arm  about  the  boy  to  steady  him; 
they  began  to  discuss  tennis  scores  with  enthusiasm. 
Richard  drove  the  rest  of  the  way  home  almost  without 
speaking. 

He  planned  to  see  Harriet  again  that  evening,  and  left 
the  club  at  eleven  o'clock,  after  an  incredibly  dull  game, 
with  the  definite  hope  that  the  youngsters  would  dance, 
or  in  some  other  way  prolong  the  summer  evening  at 
least  until  midnight.  His  heart  sank  when  he  reached 
Crownlands;  the  lower  floor  showed  only  the  tempered 
lights  that  burned  until  the  latest  member  of  the  family 
came  in,  and  Bottomley  reported  that  the  young  per- 
sons had  gone  upstairs  at  about  half-past  ten,  sir.  It 
was  now  half-past  eleven. 

Richard  debated  sending  Harriet  a  message  to  the 
effect  that  he  would  like  to  see  her  for  a  moment.  The 
flaw  in  this  plan  was  that  he  could  think  of  nothing 
about  which  there  was  the  slightest  necessity  of  seeing 
her.  He  felt  restless  and  any  thing  but  sleepy,  and  glanced 
irresolutely  at  the  library  door,  and  at  the  stairway. 


322  HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER 

Suddenly  uproar  broke  out  upstairs:  there  were 
thumping  feet,  shrieks,  wild  laughter,  and  slamming 
doors.  With  a  suddenly  lightened  heart  Richard  ran 
up  the  wide,  square  flight  to  the  landing.  His  son,  in 
pajamas  that  were  more  or  less  visible  beneath  his 
streaming  robe  of  Oriental  silk,  was  pirouetting  about 
the  upper  hall  with  a  siphon  of  soda  water.  Subdued 
giggles  and  smothered  gasps  indicated  that  the  young 
ladies  were  somewhere  near,  in  hiding.  Young  Hopper, 
under  Ward's  direction,  was  investigating  doors  and 
alcoves. 

"Amy  Hawkes — Amy  Hawkes — Amy  Hawkes — come 
into  court!"  Ward  intoned.  "Drunk  and  disorderly!" 

"Here,  here,  here!"  Richard  said.    "What's  all  this?" 

Amy  and  Nina,  with  hysteric  shrieks,  immediately 
forsook  cover,  and  dashed  down  to  him,  clinging  to  him 
wildly. 

"Oh,  Father!  Make  them  stop!  Oh,  Mr.  Carter, 
save  us!"  screamed  the  girls  in  delicious  terror.  "Oh, 
they  got  poor  Francesca — she's  locked  up  in  your  room! 
They  climbed  up  our  porch,  after  they  swore  to  Harriet 
that  they  wouldn't  make  another  sound— 

Harriet  now  appeared  in  the  hallway,  her  hair  falling 
in  a  braid  over  her  shoulder,  and  the  long  lines  of  the 
black  robe  she  wore  giving  her  figure  an  unusual  effect 
of  height.  She  did  not  see  Richard  immediately,  for 
she  had  eyes  only  for  Ward,  as  she  caught  his  shoulder, 
and  took  away  the  siphon. 

"Now,  Ward — look  here,"  she  said,  sternly.  "What 
sort  of  honour  do  you  call  this!  Half  an  hour  ago  I 
thought  all  this  nonsense  was  stopped.  Shame  on  you! 
Those  girls  promised  me " 


HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER  323 

She  saw  Richard,  and  laughed,  the  colour  flooding  her 
face. 

"Aren't  they  simply  shameless!"  she  said.  "I  had 
them  all  settled  down,  once!  Nina,  where's  Fran- 
cesca?  You  see,"  Harriet  said,  in  rapid  explanation  to 
Richard,  "I  gave  the  girls  my  room  to-night,  so  that 
they  could  all  be  together,  and  this  is  my  reward!" 

The  girls,  entirely  unalarmed  by  her  severity,  had 
deserted  Richard  now,  and  were  clinging  to  her  with 
weak  laughter  and  feeble  explanations. 

"  Francesca  unlocked  that  door,  and  rushed  into  Mr. 
Carter's  room!"  Amy  explained,  wiping  her  eyes. 
"And  then  the  boys  locked  her  in  there!" 

The  composed  reappearance  of  Francesca  at  this  point, 
however,  added  to  the  general  hilarity. 

"You  did  not  lock  me  in,  Smarties!"  Francesca 
drawled,  childishly.  "They  climbed  to  the  balcony, 
and  we  were — well,  we  were  undressing,"  she  said  to 
Richard,  "and  here  they  were  hammering  and  yelling 
like — like  Siwashes!  We  grabbed  our  wrappers,  we 
wanted  to — 

"We  wanted  to  lock  them  out  there!"  Amy  explained, 
laughing  uncontrollably.  "But — 

"And  I  snapped  off  the  light "  Nina  interposed, 

with  deep  satisfaction. 

"And,  mind  you — 

"And,  Father- 

"And  thewonder  was  thatwe  didn't  dieof  fright " 

"Now,  look  here,"  Harriet  said,  in  the  babel,  "I'll 
give  you  all  exactly  two  minutes  to  quiet  down.  Never 
in  the  course  of  my  life " 

Richard  thought  her  maternal  indulgence  delightful; 


324  HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER 

he  thought  the  young  people  who  clung  about  her 
charming  in  their  apologetic  and  laughing  promises. 
Ward  and  Bruce  Hopper  mounted  to  their  own  region; 
Richard  went  with  the  girls  and  Harriet  to  the  rooms 
that  had  been  attacked.  Pilgrim,  the  tireless,  was 
already  there,  replacing  pillows,  straightening  beds,  un- 
twisting curtains.  The  girls,  with  reminiscent  bubbles 
of  laughter,  began  to  help  her. 

After  the  last  good-nights,  Richard  and  Harriet  had 
no  choice  but  to  cross  the  hall  again,  and  they  stood 
there  for  a  moment,  laughing  at  the  recent  excitement. 

"After  twelve,"  Harriet  said,  with  a  smiling  shake  of 
her  head.  "Aren't  they  young  demons!  However," 
she  added  in  an  undertone,  "it's  the  best  thing  in  the 
world  for  Nina!  This  sort  of  nonsense  will  blow  cob- 
webs away!" 

Richard  was  only  conscious  of  a  desire  to  prolong  this 
intimate  little  moment  of  parental  consultation. 

"She  doesn't  speak  of  Blondin?"  he  asked. 

"Not  at  all.  The  birthday  came  and  went  placidly 
enough,"  Harriet  answered,  suddenly  intent  after  her 
laughing.  And  as  he  did  not  speak  for  a  second,  she 
looked  up  at  him,  innocently.  "You  don't  think  she's 
hiding  anything?"  she  asked,  anxiously. 

"I — no,  I  hardly  think  so,"  Richard  answered,  con- 
fusedly. Their  eyes  met,  and  he  smiled  vaguely. 
Then  Harriet  slowly  crossed  the  hall  to  the  door  of  the 
guest  room  where  she  was  spending  the  night,  and  gave 
him  an  only  half-audible  good-night.  Richard  stood 
watching  the  door  for  a  moment  or  two  after  it  had 
closed  upon  the  slender,  dimly  seen  figure.  Then  he 
went  to  his  own  rooms,  and  began  briskly  enough  to 


HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER  325 

move  about  between  the  mirrors  and  dressing  room, 
windows  and  bed.  But  two  or  three  times  he  stopped 
short,  and  found  himself  staring  vacantly  into  space,  all 
movement  arrested,  even  thought  arrested  for  whole 
long  minutes  at  a  time. 

Harriet,  entering  her  room,  closed  the  door  noiselessly, 
and  remained  for  a  long  time  standing  with  her  hands 
resting  against  it  behind  her,  her  eyes  alert,  her  breath 
coming  as  if  she  had  been  running.  There  was  only  a 
night  light  in  the  bedroom;  the  covers  were  still  tumbled 
back  from  her  sudden  flight  toward  the  rioting  young- 
sters in  the  hall.  She  got  back  into  her  bed,  and  opened 
her  book.  But  for  a  long  time  she  neither  slept  nor  read ; 
her  eyes  widened  at  the  faintest  sound  of  the  summer 
night;  her  heart  thumped  madly  when  the  curtains 
whispered  at  the  window,  or  the  wicker  chairs  gave  the 
faintest  creak.  It  had  not  been  only  for  Richard  that 
the  midnight  hour  of  responsibility  and  informality 
shared  had  had  its  thrill. 

One  o'clock.  Harriet  closed  her  book  and  snapped  off 
her  light.  But  first  she  went  to  the  window,  and  leaned 
out  into  the  sweet  darkness.  There  was  shadow  un- 
broken everywhere;  no  light  in  all  the  big  house  was 
burning  as  late  as  her  own. 


CHAPTER  XXI 

AFTER  that  life  took  on  a  mysterious  fragrance  and 
beauty  that  made  every  hour  of  it  an  intoxication  to 
the  master  and  mistress  of  Crownlands.  The  fact  that 
their  secret  was  all  their  own  was  all  the  more  en- 
chanting. To  the  domestic  staff,  to  the  children,  to  the 
outside  world,  life  went  upon  its  usual  smooth  way. 
Mr.  Carter  would  be  in  town  to-night,  Mr.  Carter  was 
detained  at  the  office,  Mrs.  Carter  was  chaperoning 
the  young  people,  there  were  flowers  for  Mrs.  Carter. 
That  was  all  Bottomley  and  Pilgrim  and  Ward  and  Nina 
saw. 

But  to  Harriet  and  Richard  the  delicious,  secret  game 
of  hide-and-go-seek  made  everything  else  in  the  world 
insignificant.  Harriet  opened  the  boxes  of  flowers  he 
sent  her  with  a  heart  suffocating  with  joy.  Richard 
consented  to  be  absent  from  the  dinner  table  over  which 
she  presided  with  an  agony  of  renunciation  that  almost 
made  him  feel  ill.  When  he  chanced  one  day  to  meet 
her  with  Nina,  in  a  breezy,  awninged  summer  restau- 
rant, the  sight  of  the  slender  figure  thrilled  him  as  he  had 
never  been  thrilled  by  any  woman  he  had  ever  known. 
He  was  to  speak  to  her,  to  hear  her  voice!  One  day  he 
bought  her  shoes;  in  the  shop  she  looked  at  him  for 
approval.  He  thought  the  shoes,  low  shoes  with 
buckles,  that  showed  the  silk-clad  ankle,  very  suitable 
and  pretty.  He  was  thrown  into  sudden  confusion 

326 


HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER  327 

when  the  shoe  clerk  turned  to  him  with  a  murmured 
mention  of  the  price. 

Ten  dollars  ?  Richard  fumbled  for  his  purse.  He  had 
met  her  walking  alone  in  the  Avenue;  she  had  said  that 
she  must  get  shoes.  Hundreds  of  other  men  were 
presumably  buying  their  wives  shoes,  up  and  down  the 
brilliant  street.  But  Richard  found  the  adventure 
shaking  to  the  soul. 

"They're  lovely  shoes,"  Harriet  said,  as  they  walked 
out  into  the  sunshine.  She  told  him  that  she  was  to 
meet  Nina  at  his  mother's  at  five.  Richard,  with 
sudden  eagerness,  wondered  if  she  would  spend  the 
interval  in  having  tea  somewhere,  but  instead  they 
went  into  a  bookshop,  and  she  carried  a  new  book 
triumphantly  away.  "It's  a  frightful  day  in  town," 
Harriet  said,  "and  if  we're  a  little  early  we  may  all  get 
away  to  the  country  that  much  sooner  1" 

She  established  herself  contentedly  beside  him  when 
they  did  finally  start  for  Crownlands.  Ward,  beside 
Hansen,  did  most  of  the  talking;  Nina  was  silent,  and 
Harriet  noticed  that  she  was  very  pale.  Richard  was 
repeating  to  himself  one  phrase  all  the  way;  a  phrase 
that  he  found  so  thrilling  and  absorbing  that  it  was 
enough  to  keep  him  from  speaking  aloud,  or  listening  to 
what  the  others  said. 

"I  love  her — I  love  her — I  love  her!"  thought  Rich- 
ard. And  sometimes  he  glanced  sidewise  at  her,  her 
beautiful  hair  rippling  in  thick  waves  under  the  thin 
veil,  her  face  a  little  pale  from  the  heat  of  the  day,  her 
glorious  eyes  faintly  shadowed.  When  the  swift  move- 
ment of  the  car  brought  her  shoulder  against  his,  their 
eyes  met  fcr  a  smiling  second,  and  it  seemed  to  Rich- 


328  HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER 

ard  that  his  heart  brimmed  with  the  most  delicious 
emotion  that  he  had  ever  known. 

Nina  complained  of  a  headache  when  they  reached 
home,  and  went  early  to  bed.  Harriet,  when  she  had 
tubbed  and  changed  to  an  evening  gown,  glanced  in  at 
Nina,  and  thought  the  girl  asleep.  There  were  men 
guests  for  dinner,  and  afterward  there  was  bridge. 
Harriet  sat  with  Madame  Carter  for  awhile,  for  the  old 
lady  had  also  dined  upstairs,  went  about  the  house  upon 
her  usual  errands,  and,  going  to  her  own  room,  found 
Nina  reading,  at  about  ten  o'clock.  Nina  did  not  look 
up  or  speak  as  Harriet  came  in. 

The  door  that  led  to  Richard's  room  was  not  only  un- 
locked, but  actually  ajar.  Harriet  gave  it  a  surprised 
glance,  and  spoke  to  Nina,  in  the  next  room. 

"Nina,  did  you  unlock  this  door?" 

"What  door?"  Nina  called.  "Oh,  yes!"  she  added. 
"I  did." 

"Oh,"  Harriet  murmured.  And  she  stepped  to  the 
door,  and  looked  into  Richard's  room. 

It  was  a  sort  of  upstairs  sitting  room,  furnished 
simply,  in  man  fashion,  with  deep  leather  chairs  on  each 
side  of  the  fireplace,  broad  tables  carrying  only  the 
essential  lamps  and  ashtrays,  a  shabby  desk  where 
Richard  kept  personal  papers,  and  bookshelves 
crammed  with  novels.  Harriet,  making  a  timid  round, 
saw  Balzac  and  Dickens,  Dumas  and  Fielding,  several 
Shakespeares  and  a  complete  Meredith,  jostling  elbows 
with  modern  novels  in  bright  jackets,  and  yellow  French 
romances  losing;  their  paper  covers. 

With  a  great  sense  of  adventure  she  looked  down 
from  the  unfamiliar  windows  at  a  new  perspective  of 


HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER  329 

driveway  and  garden,  peeped  into  the  big  square  bed- 
room beyond.  Two  large  photographs  of  Nina  and 
Ward  and  an  oil  painting  of  his  mother  were  here; 
there  had  been  several  pictures  of  Isabelle  once,  Harriet 
knew,  but  these  had  long  ago  disappeared. 

Suddenly  her  heart  turned  to  water;  some  tiny  sound 
in  the  silence  warning  her  that  someone  had  entered. 
She  turned,  discovered  here  in  the  very  centre  of  his 
own  private  apartment.  He  was  standing  not  three 
feet  away  from  her.  For  a  second  they  stared  at  each 
other  with  a  sort  of  mutual  trepidation. 

"  Hello!"  he  said;  then  matter-of-factly,  "  I  brought 
home  a  paper  to-night;  I  wanted  Unger  to  see  it!  I 
left  it  in  the  suit  I  wore." 

He  stepped  to  the  dressing  room,  and  groped  in  a 
pocket,  without  moving  his  pleasant  look  from  her. 

"  Giving  my  room  the  once  over?  "  he  said. 

"Nina  left  the  door  open.  I've  never  been  in  here 
before,"  Harriet  said,  trying  to  make  her  voice  as 
natural  as  his  own.  Confused  and  ashamed,  she  was 
hardly  conscious  of  what  she  said. 

"  Here  we  are! "  Richard  glanced  at  the  paper  he 
had  found.  "  See  here,"  he  said,  presently,  going  to  a 
window,  "come  here  a  minute,  I  want  to  show  you 
this!  You  see,"  they  were  both  looking  out  into  the 
moonlight  now,  "  you  see,  this  is  where  I  propose  to 
build  on  that  big  room  downstairs,  throw  the  library 
into  the  blue  room,  and  have  a  big  sleeping  porch  up- 
stairs here,"  he  explained.  "Perfectly  feasible,  and  yet 
it  will  make  a  different  house  of  it!" 

Harriet  commented  interestedly  enough.  But  she 
heard  his  voice  rather  than  his  words,  and  saw  only  the 


330  HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER 

well-groomed,  black-clad  figure,  the  shining  patent- 
leather  shoes,  the  fine  hand  that  indicated  the  changes. 

Perhaps  he  was  conscious  of  confusion,  too,  for  his 
words  stopped,  and  presently  they  were  looking  at  each 
other  in  a  strange  silence,  Richard  still  smiling,  Harriet 
wide  eyed. 

Then  suddenly  his  strong  arms  held  her  close,  and  her 
blue,  frightened  eyes  were  close  to  his,  and  she  felt  every- 
thing else  in  the  world  slip  away  from  her  except  the 
exquisite  knowledge  that  she  loved  this  man  with  all  her 
heart  and  soul. 

"I  want  to  tell  you  something,"  Richard  said,  quickly 
and  incoherently.  "I  want  you  to  know  that  I  love 
you — I  think  I've  always  loved  you!  This  wasn't  in 
our  bond,  I  know,  but  I  think  I  couldn't  have  wanted 
you  so  without  loving  you!  If — if  the  time  comes, 
Harriet,  when  you  can  care  for  me,  you'll  tell  me,  won't 
you?  That's  all  I  want,  just  to  know  that  you  will  tell 
me.  You're  going  to  tell  me,  yourself!  I'm  going  to 
make  you  love  me!  I'll  be  patient — I'll  not  hurry  you — 
but  some  day  you'll  have  to  tell  me  that  I've — I've  won 
you!" 

He  had  spoken  swiftly,  almost  sternly,  with  a  sort  of 
desperate  determination.  Now  he  freed  her  arms  as 
suddenly  as  he  had  grasped  them,  and  added,  in  a  lower 
tone: 

"Until  that  time  I'll  not — not  even — kiss  the  top  of 
your  hair,  Harriet,"  he  said. 

In  the  mad  rushing  of  her  senses  she  could  not  find  the 
right  word,  but  she  detained  him  with  an  entreating 
hand.  Her  eyes,  shining  with  a  look  that  he  had  never 
seen  there  before,  were  fixed  on  his.  But  Richard  did 


HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER  331 

not  look  at  her  eyes,  he  looked  down  at  the  hand  she  had 
laid  on  his  own. 

"I  don't  think,"  Harriet  said,  breathlessly,  "that 
I  can  ever  like  you  any  more  than  I  do!" 

She  had  meant  it  for  surrender;  her  heart  was  beating 
wildly  with  the  glorious  shame  of  a  proud  woman  who 
gives  herself.  But  Richard  was  not  looking  at  the  be- 
traying eyes.  In  the  great  new  love  that  had  swept  him 
from  all  his  old  moorings  there  was  a  deep  humility. 
He  only  heard  her  say  that  she  could  never  learn  to  love 
him.  He  bent  his  head  over  her  finger  tips,  and  kissed 
them,  as  he  said  quietly: 

"But  I'm  going  to  try  to  make  you,  just  the  same!" 

Then  he  was  gone,  and  Harriet  was  standing  alone  in 
the  softly  lighted  room.  For  a  few  moments  she  re- 
ma,  ned  perfectly  still,  with  her  white  hands  pressed 
to  her  burning  cheeks.  Then,  shaken  with  joy  and 
surprise,  with  a  delicious  terror  and  something  of  a 
child's  innocent  chagrin,  she  went  noiselessly  back  to 
her  owr  room,  closed  the  communicating  door,  and  un- 
dressed vith  pauses  for  the  dreams  that  would  come 
creeping  •  /er  body  and  soul,  and  hold  her  in  their  ex- 
quisite stillness  for  long  minutes  together. 

She  was  rushing  her  hair  when  Nina  suddenly  ap- 
eared,  and  %ame  lifelessly  in  to  sit  on  the  edge  of 
Harriet's  bed. 

"I  want  to  ask  you  something!"  Nina  said,  in  an 
odd  voice.  "And,  Harriet,  I  want  you  to  tell  me  the 
truth!" 

Harriet,  turning,  faced  her  between  two  curtains  of 
rippling  gold.  She  saw  a  new  Nina,  a  subdued,  thought- 
ful, serious  woman  in  the  old  confident  Nina's  place. 


332  HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER 

"But  first  I  ought  to  tell  you  that  I  wasn't  with  Amy 
to-day!"  Nina  said. 

"Oh,  Nina!  Must  we  begin  that  sort  of  thing?" 
Harriet  reproached  her.  But  she  was  puzzled  by 
Nina's  manner.  "Back  to  school-girl  tricks!"  she 
said. 

"Never  back  to  a  school-girl,"  Nina  said,  with  trem- 
bling lips.  "No,"  she  added,  passionately,  "I'll  never 
be  that  again.  Harriet,"  she  went  on,  "I've  written 
Royal  three  times,  since  my  birthday,  and  I've  seen 
him  twice.'* 

"You  saw  him  to-day?"  Harriet  ventured. 

"I  went  there  this  afternoon," Nina  admitted,  heavily. 
Then  suddenly,  "Harriet,  did  my  father  pay  him — did 
he  take  money — to  break  our  engagement?" 

"Nina,  what  a  horrible  thought!  Of  course  not!" 
Harriet  could  fortunately  answer  in  perfect  honesty. 

"Oh,  Harriet,"  the  girl  caught  her  hands,  turning  sick 
and  imploring  eyes  toward  her,  "are  you  sure?" 

"Nina,  dear,  your  father  would  have  told  me!" 

"He  might  not — he  might  not!"  Nina  said,  feverishly. 

"But  if  he  did !"  she  whispered,  half  to  herself. 

"That's  Pilgrim,  I  rang  for  her,"  she  said,  of  a  knock 
on  her  own  door.  "Ask  my  father  to  come  up,  will 
you?"  she  said  to  the  maid,  when  Pilgrim  appeared. 
"We'll  settle  it  now!" 

"Mr.  Carter  is  just  coming  up,"  Pilgrim  said.  And 
a  moment  later  Richard,  with  an  interested  face,  came 
through  Nina's  room,  and  joined  them.  Harriet  had 
had  time  only  to  knot  her  hair  back  carelessly,  and  slip 
into  the  most  formal  of  her  big  Chinese  coats. 

"Father,"  Nina  said,  when  they  three  were  alone 


HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER  333 

together,  "did  Royal  Blondin  take  a  check  from  you 
ten  days  ago?" 

Richard,  taken  unaware,  glanced  sharply  at  Harriet, 
who  shook  her  head,  with  an  anxious  look.  He  sat 
down  beside  Nina  on  the  bed,  and  put  a  fatherly  arm 
about  her. 

"Ah,  Father,  don't  put  me  off!"  the  girl  begged.  "I 
wrote  him,  after  my  birthday,"  she  said,  "and  told  him 
that  money  made  no  difference  to  me.  He  didn't 
answer.  Then  I  got  Bruce  Hopper  to  ask  his  mother 
to  have  Blondin  meet  her  at  the  club  for  tea,  and  I  saw 
him  then.  Bruce,"  Nina  cast  in,  still  in  the  new,  self- 
contained  tone,  "has  been  wonderful  about  it!  I  know 
he  only  seems  a  silent  sort  of  boy,  but  I'll  never  forget 
what  he's  done  for  me!  Royal,"  she  resumed,  "didn't 
want  to  see  me,  and  said  he  had  promised  Father  that 
it  was  over.  He — but  I  needn't  tell  you  all  he  said. 
It  sounded—  Nina  clung  to  her  father's  hands,  and 

shut  her  eyes.  "  It  sounded  so — so  false ! "  she  whispered, 
bitterly.  "So  I  went  to  his  studio  to-day!"  she  pres- 
ently continued.  "And — there  were  two  or  three 
women  there,  but  it  wasn't  that.  They  were — well, 

perhaps  they  were  just  having  fun.  But And 

Nina  looked  pitifully  from  Harriet's  sympathetic  face 
to  her  father's  troubled  eyes.  "But  I've  not  been  hav- 
ing much  fun!"  she  faltered,  with  a  suddenly  trembling 
mouth.  "I've  been  planning — praying! — that  some- 
how it  would  come  out  right.  He  told  me  to-day  that 
he  had  promised  not  to  see  or  speak  to  me  for  two 
years,"  she  said,  slowly.  "I — Father,  I  knew  that  he 
had  a  reason!  He  was  changed.  I  never  saw  him  so! 
And  two  hours  ago,"  she  pointed  to  the  door  that  led 


334  HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER 

into  her  father's  room,  "two  hours  ago  I  went  in  there," 
she  said,  "and  I  looked  over  your  own  check  book. 
Father,  did  you  write  him  a  check?  Was  that  the  stub 
that  had  'R.B.'  on  it?" 

Richard  looked  at  her  sorrowfully. 

"I'm  sorry,  Nina,"  he  said,  simply.  "I  told  him  you 
should  not  know,  from  me!  I  would  have  spared  you 
that." 

For  a  few  minutes  there  was  silence  in  the  room. 
Then  Nina  said  bravely,  through  tears: 

"I  don't  know  why  you  should  be  sorry  for  what  will 
save  me  months  of  slow  worry,  all  at  one  blow!  You 
and  Harriet  needn't  worry  any  more.  I'm  cured.  Fve 
been  a  fool,  I  let  him  flatter  me  and  lie  to  me,"  said  this 
new  Nina,  with  bitter  courage,  "but  I'm  over  it  now. 
I'm  sorry  I  gave  you  so  much  trouble,  Father " 

"My  darling  girl,"  her  father  said,  tenderly.  "I 
only  wish  I  could  spare  you  all  this ! " 

"Better  now  than  two  or  three  years  after  we  were 
married,"  Nina  said.  "  Plenty  of  girls  find  it  out  then ! 
Father,  I  want  you  to  get  that  check,  through  the  clear- 
ing-house, for  me,"  she  said,  heroically,  "and  I  want  to 
keep  it.  If  ever  I'm  a  fool  about  a  man  again,  I'll  take 
it  out  and  look  at  it!" 

"I  have  it,  I  told  Fox  to  get  it  to-day,"  Richard  said. 
"You  shall  have  it!" 

Nina  had  turned  suddenly  white;  it  was  as  if  a  last 
little  hope  had  been  killed. 

"You  have  it!"  she  whispered.  "He  cashed  it, 
then!" 

"He  cashed  it  the  next  morning,"  Richard  said. 
Nina  was  silent  for  a  moment. 


HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER  335 

"How  you  must  laugh  at  me,  Harriet!"  she  said 
then. 

"I?  Laugh  at  you!"  Harriet  said,  stricken.  "My 
darling  girl,  I  am  the  last  woman  in  the  world  who  could 
do  that!  I  was  only  your  age,  Nina,  when  I  met  him — 
you  know  that  story.  Why,  Nina,  you're  but  eighteen, 
after  all,  you'll  have  many  and  many  an  affair  before 
the  right  man  comes  along,"  Harriet  said.  "You'll 
look  back  on  this  some  day,  and  say,  'It  was  an  exper- 
ience, and  I  learned  from  it!  It  is  only  going  to  make 
me  happier  and  more  sure  when  the  man  whom  I 
really  love  comes  to  me!'  Aren't  you  much  richer  now, 
in  actual  knowledge  of  men,  than  Amy  and  Francesca, 
who  haven't  had  anything  but  school  flirtations?" 

Nina,  sitting  between  Richard  and  Harriet  on  the 
bed,  looked  wistfully  from  one  face  to  another. 

"I'll  try  to  make  it  so,  Harriet!"  she  said.  And 
somewhat  timidly  she  added,  "Father — and  Harriet — 
shall  you  feel  dreadfully  if  I  say  that  I  don't  want  to  go 
to  Brazil?  I'll  tell  you  why.  Ward  is  going  out  to  the 
Gardiner  ranch,  and  Bruce  is  going,  too,  and  it  seems 
to  me  that  riding  and  camping  and  living  in  the  open 
air  will  be — well,  will  seem  better  to  me  than  just  being 
on  the  steamer!  I  dread  seeing  strange  places  and 
meeting  people,"  said  Nina.  "The  Gardiner  girls 
were  simply  darling  to  me  the  term  they  were  in  school, 
and — don't  you  remember,  Harriet? — we  were  the 
only  people  who  took  them  out  for  Christmas  and 
Easter  holidays,  and  they  like  me!  And — if  you  would- 
n't be  too  disappointed,  Harriet,  I  believe  I  would  like 
it  better!" 

"My  darling  girl,"  Harriet  said,  warmly,  "you  must 


336  HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER 

do  what  seems  right  to  you.  But  you  won't  need  me?" 
she  added,  tactfully. 

"Well,  you  see  Mrs.  Gardiner  and  Mrs.  Hopper  are 
sisters,"  Nina  explained,  readily,  "and  they'll  be  with 
us.  But  if  you'd  like  to  come — we  are  going  camping 
in  the  most  glorious  canon  that  you  ever  saw!"  Nina 
interrupted  herself  with  sudden  enthusiasm.  "And 
I  am  so  glad  I  really  can  ride!  I'd  feel  so  horribly  if 
I  couldn't!" 

"I  think  you'll  have  a  wonderful  two  months  of  it," 
Harriet  said,  "and  then  Granny'll  be  coming  West,  to 
spend  the  winter  in  Santa  Barbara,  and  that  will  be 
delightful,  too!  And  now,  Nina  love,  it's  after  eleven 
o'clock,"  she  ended  with  a  change  of  tone,  "and  you 
have  had  a  terrible  day!  We  will  have  to  do  some  more 
shopping  to-morrow  afternoon,  and  try  on  the  riding 
habits,  and  do  a  thousand  things.  And,  Nina,"  Richard 
heard  her  add  tenderly,  when  his  daughter  had  given 
him  a  rather  sober  good-night  kiss  at  the  door  of  her 
room,  "whenever  you  feel  sad  and  depressed  about  it, 
just  remember  to  say  to  yourself,  'This  won't  last!  In 
a  few  months  the  sting  will  all  be  gone!" 

"Nina  is  in  safe  hands!"  Richard  said  to  himself, 
thankfully,  as  he  closed  the  door.  He  carried  a  memory 
of  Harriet's  earnest  eyes,  her  low,  eager  voice,  her  en- 
couraging arm  about  Nina's  shoulders. 

They  were  all  at  breakfast  when  he  came  down  the 
next  morning.  His  mother,  in  one  of  the  lacy,  flowing 
robes  she  always  wore  before  noon,  laid  down  a  letter 
half-read,  to  smile  at  him.  Ward,  his  dark  head  very 
sleek  above  his  informal  summer  costume,  was  deep  in 


HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER  337 

talk  with  Bruce  Hopper,  who  had  evidently  ridden  over 
from  the  country  club,  and  was  in  a  well-fitting,  shabby 
jersey  that  became  his  somewhat  lanky  frame.  Nina, 
somewhat  silent,  but  interested  in  everything,  wore  an 
expression  of  quiet  self-possession  that  her  father  found 
touching.  Nina  was  growing  up,  he  thought. 

Completing  the  group,  and  officiating  at  the  foot  of 
the  table,  was  the  radiant  Harriet.  She  looked  as  fresh 
as  one  of  the  creamy  rosebuds  that  were  massed  in  the 
dull  blue  bowl  before  her,  her  shining  hair  framing  the 
dusky  forehead  like  dull  gold  wings,  the  frail  sleeves  of 
her  blue  gown  falling  back  from  her  rounded  arm. 

"You're  late,  my  son,"  said  Madame  Carter,  as  he 
kissed  her  temple. 

"Never  mind,"  Harriet  said,  serenely,  "I've  just  this 
instant  come,  and  he  saves  my  face!  Do  turn  that 
toast,  Ward!"  she  added.  And  to  the  maid,  "Mr. 
Carter's  fruit,  Mollie,  please." 

Breakfast  was  the  least  formal  of  all  the  informal 
meals  at  Crownlands.  Bottomley  was  never  in  evi- 
dence until  the  late  luncheon;  mail  and  newspapers,  and 
the  morning  gaiety  of  the  young  people  all  made  for 
cheerful  disorder. 

"If  you're  going  into  town  at  ten,  Father,  we'll  go, 
too,"  Nina  suggested-  "But  I  can't,"  she  was  heard  to 
murmur  in  an  undertone  to  the  disappointed  Bruce. 
"  I  have  to  get  clothes,  don't  I  ? " 

"Oh,  Brazil — Brazil — Brazil!"  the  youth  said,  dis- 
gustedly. "I  hate  the  sound  of  it!" 

"  These  clothes  are  for  the  ranch,"  Nina  said,  smiling. 
Both  her  father  and  Harriet  augured  well  from  the 
youth's  instantly  transformed  face. 


338  HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER 

"Say — honestly?"  he  asked,  ineloquently,  with  an 
irrepressible  grin. 

"I  think  so,"  Nina  murmured.  The  rest  of  their 
conversation  was  inaudible;  they  presently  wandered 
forth  to  finish  it  on  the  tennis  court.  Ward  followed  his 
grandmother  upstairs,  and  Harriet  and  Richard  were 
left  to  finish  their  breakfast  alone. 

"You  look  tired,"  Harriet  said,  rising,  when  his 
omelette  came  in,  and  pausing  beside  the  head  of  the 
table  for  an  instant  on  her  way  to  the  pantry. 

"I  had  a  bad  night,"  Richard  admitted.  "But 
that's  not  all  you're  going  to  have  for  breakfast?"  he 
protested. 

"I  never  have  more!"  Harriet  smiled.  "I'm  sorry 
about  the  bad  night,"  said  she. 

"I  couldn't  help  thinking "  Richard  began. 

"What  is  it,  Mollie?"  he  added,  harshly,  to  the  hovering 
maid. 

"Nothing — no  matter — sir,"  Mollie  stammered,  re- 
treating. "It  was  just  that  the  man  about  the  sheep 
came,  sir "  she  faltered. 

"The  sheep!"  Richard  echoed,  frowning.  Harriet 
laughed  gaily. 

"Oh,  yes!"  she  said.  "I  told  you  I  had  ordered  two 
or  three  young  sheep,"  she  explained,  "to  keep  our 
lawns  cropped.  They  look  so  adorable,  and  they  do  it 
so  nicely!  Has  he  got  them,  Mollie?"  she  added, 
eagerly.  "Oh,  I  must  see  them!  I'll  be  back  in 
exactly  five  minutes,  Mr.  Carter,"  she  said. 

"What  are  we  supposed  to  do  with  them  in  winter?" 
Richard  asked,  smiling. 

"Oh,  they  will  have  a  little — a  little  byre!"  she 


HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER  339 

answered,  readily.  "You'll — you'll  like  them!"  And 
he  heard  her  joyous  voice  following  Mollie  away. 

Richard  pushed  back  his  plate,  and  looked  irresolutely 
after  her.  Then  suddenly  he  rose,  and  walked  through 
the  pantry,  asking  two  startled  maids  for  Mrs.  Carter. 
Etelka  had  been  several  years  in  the  house  without  ever 
seeing  "him  "  in  this  neighbourhood  before. 

Richard  crossed  a  sunshiny  brick-walled  yard,  where 
linen  was  drying,  and  went  through  a  brick  gateway 
that  gave  on  a  neglected  little  lane.  The  lane  had  once 
been  the  driveway  for  a  carriage  and  a  prancing  pair, 
but  there  were  only  riding  horses  at  Crownlands  now, 
and  three  of  these  were  looking  over  the  wall  at  the 
grass-grown  road.  And  Richard  found  Harriet  here. 

She  was  on  her  knees,  in  the  pleasant  green  shadow 
of  the  old  sycamores  and  maples,  her  back  was  toward 
him,  she  was  looking  up  into  the  face  of  the  old  stable- 
man, Trotter,  who  stood  before  her,  his  crooked, 
dwarfed  old  figure  still  further  bent,  as  he  held  two 
strong  young  ewes  by  their  thick,  woolly  shoulders. 

As  Trotter  gave  him  a  respectful  good  morning, 
Harriet  sprang  to  her  feet,  and  whirled  about,  and 
Richard  saw  the  woodeny  stiff  legs  of  a  very  young 
lamb  dangling  from  her  arms,  and  the  lamb's  meek 
little  black-rubber  face  close  to  the  beautiful  face  he 
loved. 

"Oh,  Richard!"  she  said,  carried  away  by  her  own 
delight.  "Look  at  it!  Isn't  it  the  sweetest  darling 
baby  that  ever  was!  Oh,  you  sweet!"  she  said,  putting 
her  lips  to  the  little  woolly  head. 

"You  are!"  Richard  said  quite  without  premedi- 
tation. 


340  HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER 

Harriet  laughed,  surrendered  the  little  lamb  to 
Trotter,  and  followed  the  old  man's  departure  to  the 
stables  with  an  anxious  warning. 

"They're  to  have  this  little  enclosure  all  to  them- 
selves," she  explained  to  Richard,  when  they  were 
alone.  "He's  going  to  build  them  a  little  shed."  And 
as  Richard,  his  back  leaning  against  the  low  brick  wall, 
made  no  immediate  attempt  to  move,  she  looked  at  him 
expectantly.  "Shall  we  go  back?"  she  suggested. 

"That  sounded  very  pleasant  to  me,"  Richard  said, 
with  deliberate  irrelevance. 

Harriet  looked  at  him  in  puzzled  silence. 

"I  mean  your  calling  me  Richard,"  he  said. 

She  flushed  brightly,  and  laughed. 

"Did  I?  I  always  think  of  you  as  Richard!"  she 
explained. 

"So  you  abandon  me  on  the  Brazil  trip?"  he  asked, 
watching  her  seriously. 

"Well ?"  Harriet  shrugged.     "I  thought  you  had 

to  go,"  she  added.  "I'm — I'll  confess  I'm  disap- 
pointed. But  to  have  Nina  want  to  do  anything  is 
such  a  relief  to  me  that  I'm  only  going  to  think  of  that!" 

"Yes,  I  have  to  go,"  Richard  said,  slowly.  "I  must 
be  there  for  a  month  at  least.  But  I'm  disappointed, 
too.  I  got  thinking  of  it,  in  the  night — I  couldn't 
sleep!  I'm  disappointed,  too."  He  fell  silent.  "I 
wish,"  he  said,  hesitatingly,  "that  you  had  not  told 
me  that  you — you  don't  feel  that  you — are  going  to 
love  me!"  he  said.  "I  love  you  with  all  my  heart  and 
soul.  It — well,  it's  all  I  think  of,  now.  I  want — 
He  turned,  and  picking  an  ivy  leaf  from  the  wall, 
looked  at  it  intently  for  a  moment,  and  tore  it  apart 


HARRIET  AND  THE  PIPER  341 

before  he  let  it  fall.  "However,"  he  said,  philosophi- 
cally, smiling  at  her,  "we'll  let  that  wait!" 

Harriet,  close  to  him,  laid  one  hand  upon  his  shoulder. 

"You  misunderstood  me,"  she  said,  steadily.  "What 
I  said  was  that  I  could  not  love  you  more  than  I  do! 
Aren't  you — ever — going  to  understand?" 

For  a  long  minute  they  looked  straight  into  each 
other's  eyes. 

"Harriet,  do  you  mean  it?"  Richard  said  then, 
simply. 

"Yes,"  she  answered,  "I  mean  it!  I've  always  meant 
it.  I've  always  loved  you,  I  think.  No  man  could 
want  any  woman  to  love  him  more!" 

The  blue  eyes  so  near  his  own  were  misty  with  sud- 
den tears.  In  the  deserted  little  lane,  in  the  blue 
summer  morning  and  the  green  shade  of  the  sycamores, 
they  were  alone.  Richard  put  his  arms  about  her. 

And  for  a  moment  he  held  all  the  beauty  and  fra- 
grance and  laughter  and  tears  that  was  Harriet  close  to 
his  heart;  the  soft  hair  tumbled,  the  brown,  firm  young 
hand  resting  on  his  shoulder,  the  warm  cheek  against  his 
own. 

A  breeze  rustled  through  the  branches  high  above 
them;  the  blue  river,  beyond  the  brick  wall,  flowed  on  in 
an  even  sheet  of  satin;  two  birds  looped  the  enclosure  in 
a  sudden  twittering  flight;  and  from  the  stable  region 
came  the  plaintive  bleating  of  a  mother  sheep.  But  to 
Harriet  and  Richard  the  world  was  all  their  own. 

"My  wife!"  said  Richard  Carter. 


THE    END 


THE  COUNTRY  LIFE  PRESS 
GARDEN  CITY,  N  .Y. 


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